


Eternal Renaissance

by Jakei



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Blood and Gore, Cruelty, Forced Orgasm, Forced Pregnancy, Gen, Graphic Description, Nudity, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rough Sex, Sex, Sex Slave, Slavery, Smut, Stockholm Syndrome, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:53:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 53,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29449599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jakei/pseuds/Jakei
Summary: Nappa manages to convince Vegeta to mix Saiyan Blood with Earthlings so that they can spawn a new great empire of warriors; now, the two Saiyans have to wiggle their way around obtaining the Dragon Balls for immortality and setting up a new era of warriors under the very nose of the man who blew up their home world and the majority of its people.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

Killed by power levels barely over a thousand...he deserved it."

A horrid aroma of burned corpses and wildlife filled the area of a colorful forest that would only now have its beauty tainted by the pain and suffering of its indigenous life.

Two men were the cause of mass genocide. One sat on the lifeless body of a bug creature with a humanoid structure as the taller and much larger intimidating man sat on a log. They were two well known men in the business of planetary conquest within the Freeza Force: Vegeta and Nappa.

"We can save this planet for later," Nappa suggested.

Vegeta chewed on the dismembered arm of the dead man he sat on without a care in the world. He spoke aloud his thoughts while he ate as he contemplated on the words that had been shared between their now dead comrade and the man who had given him the finishing blow. "Mhm. These _Dragon Balls_ sound intriguing, don't they? Have any wish come true…" his mind started to wander off to a land of imagination - a land of endless possibilities - possibilities that'd only serve him to elevate himself higher in the hierarchy of the Universe. It didn't take Vegeta very long to figure out what it was that he desired. With great haste, he got up as he let go of his little snack. "We're leaving."

Nappa's mind wasn't on the same level as Vegeta's and he made it clear with the following words that uttered from his big mouth. "We're bringing Raditz back to life?" Of all the things that Vegeta could wish for with the chance of having anything, Nappa did secretly hope that Vegeta's wish was something much better than that.

Vegeta couldn't hold back a laugh as he scoffed. "Get real, Nappa. We're better off without him." Already knowing that his idea was far more promising than the notion of reviving the weak link of their small team, Vegeta didn't hesitate to share what it was he was really hoping to wish for. "How about immortality for ourselves? No death, no age. Only an eternity of combat for nobody to stop us!"

One person came to mind when Vegeta told him this. The large man's face matched the wicked, hopeful expression that his partner had. Getting up, Nappa expressed his excitement. "Now that's a wish I can get behind!"

The two took a little walk over to the circular round space pods that they arrived on the planet in. Once within close enough proximity, Vegeta and Nappa opened up their hatches with the usage of a remote. The two were both very ecstatic about the possibility of gaining immortality and it was something that their minds were going to be stuck on for some time now.

But as time passed on, Vegeta's thoughts went toward the events that took place recently on Earth.

It appeared as if they were in hyperspace by the insane level speed that the two travelled through space in their pods. Looking through their glass windows as they passed by countless stars and planets was something that'd make the unfamiliar go hypnotic, but Nappa and Vegeta couldn't care less. They grew up with this harmonic scenery so to them it was just a part of every day life by now - another sweet thing amongst a bunch of horrors that people like them often took for granted.

"I was just thinking about something," Vegeta said in his pod.

Hearing the message from his scouter, which had been contacted by Vegeta's, Nappa responded with, "What's that?"

"Kakarot's brat had an impossibly high power-level for a child."

"Seven hundred and ten, wasn't it?" Nappa couldn't see how a small child could hold such power, even if he was part Saiyan. "The reading had to be wrong. You weren't even that strong until a couple years after Planet Vegeta was destroyed."

"No, I doubt the reading was wrong. The amount of damage Raditz suffered by the brat from one single strike says a lot. I'd have to say it seems that mixing Saiyan blood with Earthling blood begets a powerful hybrid."

Despite them not knowing how old Kakarot's brat was, the Saiyans personally prior to their near extinction, prioritized keeping records of young Saiyan children soon after their birth. This carried on from generations after the first Saiyan King took to the throne. In all of memorable Saiyan history, there had never been a Saiyan child at the age of Kakarot's son with a power-level of approximately seven-hundred. For a child so young to be so strong would only have many to come to one conclusion: that said child was a mutant; mutants were a rare breed and they could come from any species spread throughout the cosmos. For one to be considered a mutant they had to either be irrationally powerful or one of a kind within their race regarding special abilities that would be useful in combat.

Given that the Saiyans had always held a reputation of being a warrior race, for there to be a Saiyan mutant only made Nappa think of one possible thing.

"A Super Saiyan, huh?" Nappa then started to jump the gun. "So if we bred with the native people there and spawned a flock of hybrids ourselves, we could rebuild the Saiyan empire!"

"Don't be stupid, Nappa. Do you want a bunch of ungrateful brats running around with powers greater than ours!? We must exterminate all life on Earth."

Nappa fell quiet for a brief moment. It did make sense what Vegeta said, but he didn't see the point of killing them all if they had the Dragon Balls at their disposal. "But that wouldn't matter if we had immortality, would it, Vegeta? I mean, they could be an entire generation of ingrates, but knowing that they could never kill us would make them fall in line." After making his point, Nappa hoped to get a response from his comrade, but the following silence caused him to cock a brow. "Uh...you there?" He waited a few more seconds. "Vegeta?"

"That...has to be the smartest thing you've come up with in a long, long time, Nappa. We could easily make up an excuse about going to Earth without permission, but what about breeding, huh? How can we do that successfully behind Freeza's back?"

"Yeah, you're right. But Lord Freeza would want to know why we're violating orders and going there in the first place."

"True." Looking at the coordinates he had placed for the pod to go to Earth, Vegeta began to search the database for coordinates that had already been set inside. Once he found what he was looking for, he spoke to Nappa. "Re-route your pod to Freeza Planet 204. We're about to take a little detour."

* * *

The length of travel to Freeza Planet 204 lasted an hour. As Nappa decided to take a break and rest, Vegeta's thoughts kept him up and wide awake. His mind was working like clockwork as he tried to find countless ways to achieve new private goals around Freeza, their big boss, in order to strive forward towards their goal of immortality and potentially even rebirthing a Saiyan empire. Though the idea initially didn't set well with Vegeta, nobody would be able to stop him had he gotten immortality and he'd be the forever ruler of his people, being able to weed out the weak from the strong however he saw fit and ultimately guide his race to a glory never that has never been accomplished before in the history of their species' existence. That really started to get him going.

Unfortunately, he couldn't stay in fantasyland all too long as they arrived at Freeza Planet 204. Their pods were clearly seen coming down from the light brown skies of the planet, which was a world that consisted of nothing but rocky mountains spread out all over. As soon as their pods landed on a soft padding at the launching site, Vegeta told Nappa to wake up over the scouter.

Vegeta was out of his pod half a minute before Nappa, is who was slowly coming out, stretching and yawning.

"Good to go?"

"Ahuh," Nappa yawned again. "What are we here for?"

"Just follow me."

* * *

"Module 45 doesn't have a proper homeostasis because the soil is too rich for them to begin with, Tifque."

Looking at a big monitor on a wall in a room the size of a basic mansion full of scientists was the head scientist, Tifque, who was looking at different models of cultivars, otherwise known as Saibamen, in order to figure out a way to make a better batch at a faster process. So far, they were at a stone wall and many were on the verge of giving up.

Before he could speak, there came loud bangs at the metallic doors behind them 30 yards out. Taking a look over his shoulder, he caught the sight of two familiar figures on the camera, awaiting to be allowed in. Seeing that it was Vegeta and Nappa of all people piqued the interests of many peers in the room. Tifque's cat-like eyes narrowed. "Start another hypothesis. I'll be back soon."

Tifque pressed a button on a little remote in his armor plate to open the door and head outside. Looking around, he noticed that there were a couple of people bypassing them through the corridors. Not many people came by through the scientific department and only those who either had business related work to or who worked there did. For a couple of Saiyans who primarily worked as genocidal soldiers wasn't commonly in the vicinity unless they needed a new batch of Saibamen, which he had just given them not too long ago.

"At the moment, we don't have any mo-"

"We're not here for that," Vegeta cut him off. "I actually have a question and since you just so happened to be the smartest man closest to us, I've decided to come here."

Though he didn't have much time to spare, Tifque knew better than to not stay on their good side. "Alright, I'm all ears."

"Has there ever been a situation where enough people of a specific species has survived a conquest from the Freeza Force in order to repopulate and start anew?"

Of all questions to ask, Vegeta came with that one? It was common knowledge for everyone amongst the Freeza Force that the home to the Saiyan race had been struck by a meteor with the majority of its people on it, which meant that there were very few left. Tifque could only think of one thing.

"Ar- Are yo-"

Vegeta chuckled and lied before Tifque had the chance to make out his question. "No."

"It's for insurance from a recent assignment," Nappa simply told Tifque.

Vegeta snapped his fingers. "Bingo."

Tifque wiggled his ears. "Well, in life, there's always a one in a million occurrence when it comes to every generation - maybe even a handful. Yes, it's happened before, but a long, long time ago before my grey furs started to come about. When the force was just starting out and when I was a helper shadowing my mentor, there was a planet meant to be wiped clean of everything; the people, animals, even the plants. The highest bidder who sought out this world wanted everything gone. Since the force was new at this sort of business at the time, there were rocky waves in the water until everything smoothened out. It just so happened that some sloppy workers, who did get killed for this by the way, did their job so horribly that the species they were meant to conquer was found on an entirely different planet, thriving on a hospitable world with just a tenth of the population that they had before most of them were killed."

"How many people survived exactly?" Vegeta prodded.

"Now this was a LONG, LONG time ago, so my memory's a little fuzzy now...but I want to say about one hundred and sixty people approximately. About ninety percent of them were women and the rest were men. It being mostly women made me believe that was the main contribution for them being able to repopulate so successfully."

Nappa looked down to Vegeta and Vegeta up to Nappa. Both had blank faces, but they were pretty much on the same page at that point.

"Thanks." Vegeta and Nappa proceeded to walk off.

As they walk the corridors on their way back to their pods, Nappa brought up his comprehension regarding the little history Tifque had to share. "I see why you went to visit him now - to gauge how many women we will need. So does that mean you're all in for this idea?"

Vegeta nodded. He still focused on how he was to work his way around Freeza, but he hoped to achieve immortality and his idea of a true warrior society, one much better than what he was meant to rule as a child.

"Those people that Tifque spoke of repopulated with only one hundred and sixty people, sixteen of them being male since the females made up ninety percent of the population."

"That's some good math right there," Nappa complimented.

"Yet there's only two of us," Vegeta added on, working his brain. "Sixteen is eight times the amount of two people, which represent you and I." Just as they were beginning to near outside the landing site, Vegeta stopped walking as he rubbed his chin. Once he calculated the numbers in his head, he looked up to Nappa. "That means we'll need 1,152 women."

"Whoah."

"But I'm not going for that exact number." Vegeta started to walk toward their pods. "One thousand will suffice."

"It looks like we'll be having more babies than killing sprees," Nappa joked sinisterly.

"Still, this all must be done without garnering suspicion from Freeza."

"Yeah, you're right. You got a plan?"

Vegeta smirked. "When don't I have a plan?"

* * *

"And who gave them the okay to just leave the planet eighty percent done?"

Having just gotten back from business on the other end of the galaxy, Freeza had made it back to the closest base where he had his two most trusted advisors waiting for him. As soon as he entered the room, the displeased look on his face caused Kikono to tread carefully as Beriblu merely remained poise as she tends to, though knowing to carefully pick her words.

"Nobody, Lord Freeza," Kikono responded. "They just up and left on their own accord."

"Them leaving on their own accord resulted in my business crew and potential buyers being slaughtered without a second thought," Freeza seethed through his teeth. "And what's this that I hear about Raditz leaving off to some frontier world called Earth - mind you - **ALSO** without any permission."

"We don't know, sire," Beriblu answered him. Freeza's tail just lashed around as his back remained toward both his advisors, both of whom he kept a close eye on through the reflection from the mirrors that showed them a beautiful picture of the current ruby, futuristic planet that they were on. With the press of a button, a little monitor attached to the wall up above showed them all beeping devices. "The pods that belong to soldiers Vegeta and Nappa are here right now as we speak, though."

Freeza's eyes narrowed once they got a request to enter from outside. The monitor automatically switched to Vegeta and Nappa standing by the door. "Let them in."

A green light appeared above the entrance of the room and the metallic doors slid open for the both of them.

Vegeta and Nappa took a few steps into the room before they both respectfully bowed on one knee.

"Please do explain yourself, Vegeta," Freeza said, getting right to the chase. "I know not if you know, but your lack of conscientiousness has cost the lives of valuable businessmen and buyers. You left just a few hundred left on that planet, far more than enough to cut my clients and associates piece by piece. Before you open your mouth, I highly suggest you choose your words carefully. If one tiny little detail doesn't add up, I will have both your tails as a memento."

Vegeta's body wanted to shake to the point that the glass would break and just send Freeza flying to a solar star. Regardless, he remained cool, controlled his breathing, and made sure to come up with a nice story. He's been in situations like these many times coming up and for some reason, he's always managed to use that quick witted nature of his to get back on Freeza's good side - if not - then his neutral one.

Assuming that Freeza knew everything at this point and decided to not let off that he knew of Raditz also violating protocol in order to catch Vegeta in a lie, the Saiyan prince came out with everything.

"As you probably know Lord Freeza, our comrade Raditz is no longer with us." Vegeta did expect Freeza to inquire why, but the hard silence was a big note that Freeza was going to let Vegeta talk. He let out a scoff subtle enough to go unnoticed before he continued. "While we were beginning to head out to our last and most recent assigned mission, Raditz recalled that he had a little brother that had been sent off on this distant planet called Earth prior to our planet's destruction. He firmly believed that you would be okay with this as he saw it as us recruiting another potential great asset to the Freeza Force. Raditz thought wrong though since his little brother turned out to catch amnesia and also came out proving himself to be a traitor, which attributed to Raditz's death. Once we heard everything, we were almost done with our current mission, but decided to leave off and head over to Freeza Planet 204 to hopefully acquire more cultivar creatures from Tifque before we headed off to Earth." He then looked back at Freeza through the reflection, now continuing to twist the story and lie straight through his teeth with a poised demeanor. "From my perspective, if his little brother, who was deemed to be a lower-class than his own brother, managed to defeat Raditz, then he'd prove to be at least a minor trouble at best. Still, we needed to be sure as he had some tricks up his sleeve during the fight. And now here we are, asking for your forgiveness and permission to go to Earth and even buy the planet as a way to make up for your loss in money due to our lack of diligence."

For as long as they've known him since a child, Vegeta seemed to have a way with words. Typically, Saiyans weren't known as a rather intellectual breed, but not only was Vegeta his father's son, but the boy was brought up his entire life in an environment of all different minds. Being the quick learner that he was, he managed to pick up on quite a few things and what he's learned saved his hide more than he could even count. This was just another one of those occasions.

Kikono and Beriblu just looked at one another and shook their heads subtly. Freeza was yet again going to let his favorite pet slide.

"Very well." Freeza turned around to face Vegeta. "I am rather relieved you brought up recent transgressions about this planet Earth. See, I purposely left that out in order to reel the truth out of you and you've passed, without failure, yet again." He smiled. "You see why I like you so much, Vegeta? As hard-headed as you are, your absolute loyalty is something I know I can always count on."

Vegeta smiled. "Of course, Lord Freeza."

"You may stand."

 _Finally,_ was all Vegeta and Nappa could think as they got off their knee.

"Now, enlighten me on this planet Earth. Is there any other reason that you want to buy it or do you genuinely feel bad at the fact that I've lost men and money?"

"Let's just say it's to reimburse you and to exact revenge on this traitor," Vegeta lied.

Freeza chuckled. "Ohohoho, you really do know how to be kind to the right one and hit everyone else where it hurts, don't you Vegeta? A true pupil of the Freeza Force. Very well, then. Have at it. This dustball of a planet may sell at much more than what it's probably worth, but it'll do since it will be made up for the loss of money from your recent failure."

"Very well," Vegeta said.

"Yet that will be taken care of at a later date," Freeza added, yet to dismiss the two Saiyans. "I have a more important matter for you to take care of, which will also assuage this most recent loss." Vegeta and Nappa was just about ready to go, but of course, Freeza always had to throw something new into the mix. "As I was on my way back from my little trip, Zarbon contacted me while he was on his home world, informing me that a small brigade of common soldiers weren't fit enough to take care of a bunch of weaklings on this world called Yardrat that aren't even said to hit 500 on a power scale on average." Freeza then scoffed. "Reinforcements were sent and neither could they get the job done. See, Zarbon and Dodoria are currently unavailable. The Ginyus are on a conquest spree at the moment, and the others like Cui, Avo, and Cado, are all doing something rather important at the moment." Freeza's tail motioned behind his back and then stiffened as it pointed at the two. "That's where you two come in."

"You want us to succeed where they failed," Nappa said, speaking for the first time.

"Precisely so. The planet needs to be conquered in a week exactly and we are so very behind on schedule. Very high bidders are preying upon this planet and since I've already gotten a few killed, so to be unable to sale this planet without a hitch will put a dent in my reputation that will not be so easily repaired and the profits I make won't be nearly as much, which I will have to hold you two accountable for, regardless of your circumstances with a turncoat. Are we at an understanding?"

"How long until we get there?" Vegeta asked.

"One hundred and thirty two hours. The deadline is just a day and a half once you arrive, so I suggest you get a move on it."

"Let's go, Nappa."

Vegeta and Nappa walked with great haste, moving their legs so fast it's seen as if they are practically running. They know that Freeza is watching them and they don't want to seem too desperate to get the task done, which was the only reason why they weren't running.

"Vegeta, you're the best," Nappa said, unable to contain his excitement. "You really got us out of all that and a planet of our own? I don't even know what to say about that!"

Of course Nappa didn't realize he was stroking the Saiyan prince's ego even though he was just being completely honest. Nappa didn't even know if they were going to get out of that one so easily, yet there goes Vegeta, just talking his mouth off and probably coming whatever first comes to mind. Pure genius!

"Having the planet isn't set in stone yet though, Nappa," Vegeta voiced out, remaining humble to get through to his comrade. "We still have this planet Yardrat to get out the way first." And knowing Freeza, Vegeta was well aware that he wanted this task to be done meticulously. If not, then he sure wasn't going to allow him to buy Earth, even if it did serve as a service to the tyrant.

"I know, I know...but you gotta admit though; things are looking up for us!"

Vegeta smiled. "That, I can't disagree with."

The two Saiyans enter their pods and take off for Yardrat.

* * *

With Vegeta and Nappa gone, that left only Freeza, Kikono, and Beriblu. They were all three of just under a dozen people that knew of the true fate of Vegeta's people, yet a small circle of ones with a secret from Freeza was sealed tight.

Watching as Vegeta and Nappa's pod left, Freeza took a deep breath. "Now, I could have sworn that Vegeta and his lackeys were the only Saiyans left alive after I disposed of that ridiculous hive of talking apes."

"Well, you just missed one," Kikono told Freeza, reassuring him. "It happens. They're going to kill him anyway, too, so that's also a plus."

Beriblu, knowing Freeza like the back of her hand, was well aware of how much Freeza hated a lack of diligence when it came to tasks and execution in every decision. Hell, she even knew what Freeza was thinking right now unlike Kikono, who was just so focused on Freeza staying in a good mood.

"That's not the point," Beriblu told Kikono. "The point is the possibility of there being one, two, or maybe even one hundred more out there that he doesn't know about." She then placed her attention on Freeza. "Would you like for us to send out a search party for any surviving Saiyans, my lord?"

"Effective immediately," Freeza confirmed. "Not a single Saiyan shall take a breath without me knowing."

"As you wish, sire."


	2. Mind, Spirit, and Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vegeta and Nappa have their hopes on getting to Earth to achieve their goals as soon as possible, but first they must take care of an assignment personally given to them by Freeza: Planet Yardrat; despite the fact that Nappa and Vegeta are far physically superior to the people of Planet Yardrat, their lack of knowledge of ki proves to be a setback.

Freeza's entire business, which was inherited from his father, had been established with only one goal in mind: making money and having power; doing whatever Freeza's father felt needed to be done by any means necessary to be able to garner enough power across the Universe to obtain and hold said power would require one to be of an absolute heartless nature. Cold, unlike his clan, was a mutant, being born heartless and cruel - his son was much more of a sadist than even he himself, having inherited not only his abnormal prowess, but intrinsic humanity as well. The thing that attributed to the undeniable success of it was the fact that they loved the nature of evil - they basked in it.

Still, it didn't mean money wasn't at the top of their priority list. From erasing entire races to selling planets, to extortion, as well as loansharking and many other forms of racketeering, was what the Freeza Force consisted of to make money.

And in order to stay on top of everything, they quite literally had to do just that: stay on top of everything, also meaning that they had to scrutinize even the most minute details.

Prior to conquering a planet, there would be an examination done onto a targeted world by a couple of scouts and/or robotic machines and satellites in order to determine whether or not a planet could make for a promising sale. And if they did, further examination was done in order to see if the indigenous people were weak or powerful.

Their research for a potentially profitable world was more than not generally precise. As for the people on these particular planets? Well, you never really knew what one person could have up their sleeve, much less an entire race of individuals.

Yardrat was one of those planets.

If one were to look at a picture of the yellow skies of Planet Yardrat, one would also assume that their home was excruciatingly hot, though much on the contrary, it was cool and tolerable. The Yardrats were a peaceful race and didn't cause trouble; they were a very stoic people, basing their entire life's purpose on one thing: mastery of thyself.

And that, over the course of hundreds of years, evolved into mastery of thyself and spirit.

Like some worlds such as Earth had their Guardian and others had their elders, this one had the latter. They were made up of two different looks, some being of a small and blue colored round midget, and others were taller, more lankier, with a pink complexion and one long appendage on each side of their face that took the appearance of thick, hairless whiskers.

On the outskirts of Planet Yardrat is where those who sought to elevate themselves to their highest potential in spirit trained.

The elder and most respected being of the planet, Soba, looked over five students. Four of them took his taller and skinnier appearance and pink complexion as one of his students was the smaller, round, and blue type.

Soba's students remained in lotus positions on poles as thin as a pinky finger yet as tall as a skyscraper. These pupils had their feet pressured against each end of the pole as they remained eyes closed, concentrating on their chi.

" _Every part of your brain, every fiber that makes up of your very soul, and every section of your body holds either a fragment, or heavy amount of spirit,"_ Soba spoke to them telepathically. He made sure to keep the frequency of his voice low, as a way to guide his students as they were in the latter stages of his teachings. " _To master this is to move your spirit and flow them to areas of the body subconsciously for normal and even strenuous activities of our everyday life. Hone it. Own it."_

Soba could go on for hours like this. He did whatever he could to help teach his students - even if it bored him. So it caught his pupils all off-guard when he suddenly became quiet. They were so focused on the lack of telepathic audible that it took them a split second longer than it should have to detect the two intense, ominous forces of energy coming right into their home. The sight of a heap of smoke came about as they witnessed two unidentified flying objects land right into the nearest abandoned city, which had homes, skyscrapers, and regular buildings, but no citizens.

One of Soba's students opened his eyes, as did his peers.

Soba knew that one of them were keen on jumping into action, so he put a stop to them before they even got started. "Pybara and the rest of you stay put." The conflict bubbling inside his pupils as they could feel other protectors of the planet falling by the second was most understandable, but as elder, his duty was to guide and protect. "Take this as a test if you will. Focus on your own spirit as you go through the troubles of feeling the intense surge of others nearby. When I require help, I will call out to you."

Soba placed the tip of his index and middle finger to the center of his head. One moment he was there. The next he wasn't.

* * *

Vegeta and Nappa didn't waste any time from the moment that they landed on Planet Yardrat. People had been expecting the two of them and arrived to their predetermined destination before they had even arrived. But just as soon as Vegeta and Nappa hopped out of their pods, the bigger of the two blew up the entire abandoned area without giving it a thought, erasing all of their observers from existence simultaneously.

Vegeta nudged Nappa in the side.

"Ouch!" Nappa grabbed at his hip. "What was that for?"

"We must do as little as we can to destroy the resale value of this planet," Vegeta reminded Nappa. "Be more mindful before you go off raising your fingers."

"Sorry, Vegeta," Nappa said groaned.

Just then, Soba and four other Yardratians that looked just like him appeared right before Vegeta and Nappa. The two Saiyans took half a second later than normal to process the fact that someone had made it to their area so quickly. The scouters couldn't even detect them when they arrived.

"Talk about coming straight out of thin air," Nappa joked. He scanned the five of them with his scouter and busted out laughing at the reading. "Two hundred each, Vegeta! How could common soldiers fail to purge all life on this planet? Raditz would finish in just half a day if he put his mind to it! Hahahaha!"

Vegeta chuckled a bit as well before he directed his attention to them. "I assume you're the planet's strongest?" Taking a short look around the area, Vegeta envisioned just how dozens upon dozens of bodies would be lying all around the area had Nappa just killed them with his bare fists instead of blowing them up. "The others weren't anything to praise."

"Twice already your allying evil doers have set foot on my world with the intention to just remove this world of its rightful people. Who do you think you all are?" Soba did his best to maintain his calm. Once the inevitable battle came, only a focused mind would propel him to a potential chance of victory. No matter how much it hurt to think about all the lives lost as soon as they arrived, he needed to keep his cool not for himself, but for the rest of his kind.

"We can't really speak for the others, but we can speak for ourselves." Nappa cracked his knuckles. "We're the grim reaper incarnate."

"The last two batches of warriors sent here aren't cut from the same cloth as us." Vegeta pointed his thumb at himself. "We are Saiyans - a different breed entirely compared to those weaklings you've managed to dispose of."

"They're not even cut from the same cloth as Raditz," Nappa added. "I don't think these fools are worth the time either, Vegeta." The bald giant couldn't care less if these five were the strongest that the planet had to offer; the reading on his scouter from earlier made it evident enough that even if he pulled his punches, just a tiny bit of unsuppressed power would bash their skulls in. If anything, he believed it was just best to kill them so that they could get to Earth sooner; judging by their average power and the amount of people that lived there, they could be done in just the span of a few hours.

"I can make it worth your while," Soba shot back verbally at Nappa.

"Too bad we're on borrowed time," Vegeta said. "Still, we won't waste further energy on you. Plant a seed for him, Nappa. A Saibamen will do just fine by itself on a planet like this."

Nappa grabbed a small bottle with a cap on each side, one for the seed, and the other for the liquid needed to manifest its growth. Soba watched the two of them carefully, as he didn't want to be the one to make the first move.

Subsequent to digging a hole, Nappa planted the seed inside and covered it with the planet's dirt prior to pouring the green liquid on top.

"One will suffice." Nappa backed up and crossed his arms.

Soba, looking at the hole, could feel life growing very rapidly from underneath. Slowly, the ground cracked as clicking noises began to get louder and louder. Once its green, veiny head appeared, the entire creature popped out from down below. Soba and the four carbon copies of him were taken aback that a creature with such strength could just come alive in mere seconds like a super humanoid plant.

"Those five are your targets," Vegeta told the Saibaman.

"Eh, the soil ain't all that great here, but it'll still take on all five of 'em," Nappa commented, finger pressed against his scouter. "Its power level is 400."

With its target in sight, the Saibaman was simply waiting on the order of attack. A simple _Go_ was all that it needed for the Saibaman to hop off its two feet and lunge itself over to one of its five targets.

One of them vanished just in time to get out of the way, much to the surprise of the Saiyans, as well as the green, blood-thirsty creature itself. Reappearing behind it, the split replicas of Soba started to shift over back into him as their bodies started to fade and become transparent. The closer they all came to Soba, the more their presence seemed to vanish, which resulted in Soba gaining his full strength back once the four copies merged back with him.

Nappa's was looking through his scouter and reading Soba's power as it increased in one big fashion. The numbers on their scouters were running up like crazy; it was unbelievable to think how fast one's strength could dramatically grow to such seemingly unattainable heights in a short span of time. "His power is at one thousand!" Nappa blurted out.

Nappa and Vegeta had never seen anything like this before throughout all their years of conquest. They had come across some formidable foes of the past, most of them having a hidden transformation or some special ability, but nothing like this. This was different - interesting, even.

Before the Saibaman had a chance to turn around and continue its assault, it was reduced to ashes by a semi-charged wave of energy from the Yardrat. Soba turned his head over his back shoulder, staring directly at Vegeta. "Playtime went just as quickly as it came. I want to fight you two, not that thing."

Nappa's mouth stood wide while Vegeta looked at the man like he was stupid. They were both on pause for a brief moment before they cocked their heads back and started laughing like madmen.

Nobody would take being laughed at so easily, but Soba didn't verbally respond. It was best he showed them. As his body pulsated with a pure, white aura surrounding him, the scouters seized their laughing and forced them to pay attention.

"His power is rising even more now…" Nappa observed incredulously. "1,050...1,200...1,380...1,450...fifteen hundred!? How?"

Vegeta didn't answer Nappa aloud, but instead, answered the question in his head. " _Like those Earthlings, the people here can suppress their energy, too._ "

"The last two times that your friends came and attacked, I requested and even gave them my permission to leave. They didn't listen." Already knowing that the two of them weren't going to listen either, Soba knew what he had to do now. "I'm done asking."

"Good." Nappa took a few steps forward. "And I'm done looking at your face. It's about time I removed it from that ugly shoulder plate that you call armor!" Clenching his entire body, Nappa tensed up, revving in a bright, golden aura. He wasn't making the effort to raise his battle-power, but instead, intimidate Soba, who remained still and nonchalant. "Time to die!"

Soba raised his two fingers to his head and vanished just half a second before Nappa managed to get to the same spot he was. Surprised at the fact that he had missed, Nappa looked at his fists as if something was wrong with them. His scouter made sure to bring him back to reality with a couple beeps, though. Getting a reading of 3,000, he turned around to see a bright wave of light coming right for him.

Unable to get out the way fast enough at this point, Nappa raised his fist, cocked it back, and punched the blast back up into the air. It was easier said than done given that Nappa had a minor struggle for a few seconds before he managed to divert the attack elsewhere. Taking a deep breath, Nappa's hand could be seen shaking and pulsating from the intensity of the attack. The displeased look on his face showed that it hurt more than what he would dare to admit.

"He can concentrate his attacks into a single focal point and raise his energy," Vegeta warned Nappa. "Keep that in mind when you're fighting this one!"

Nappa scoffed. Soba remained in the sky with one hand behind his back. The high and mighty pose aggravated the giant of a Saiyan. "Let's see how you retaliate." Charging a ball of energy, Nappa leaped off his back foot with his hand cocked back. "Now it's my turn!"

Soba, thinking on his feet, directed a small line of energy waves that travelled over into Nappa's hands in a single file line, adding onto his own until the amount of power Nappa produced went past his own limitations. The bald man was so focused on Soba that he didn't recognize this until the oversized ball of energy exploded and blew Nappa back down. He was sent sliding for a good few seconds. Once the dust of smoke vanished, Nappa could be seen just getting up.

Despite recovering and getting up on his feet, there were small bits of his right shoulder plate that had been chipped off in the process. Not only that, but the constant ringing in his ear didn't help much with his mood either.

"You'll pay for that!" Nappa snarled.

Nappa flew right for Soba once more much faster than what he did the first time out of sheer anger. He didn't get to hit the man yet again due to him continuing his vanishing act. A feral growl escapes Nappa's shaking lip as he searches for Soba.

"Stop hiding! Come out and fight!"

"Over here."

Seeing him on the ground below, Nappa charged at him once more. Soba waited at the last second once more before disappearing. Nappa stopped just in time to catch himself and saw Soba behind him once more. He continued to fall for it and never seemed to be able to land a single strike on the nuisance.

After missing for what felt like the thousandth time, Nappa was huffing and puffing, breathing so hard that smoke was literally coming out of his nose. He was so mad that it sure wouldn't surprise Vegeta if he just dropped dead for being the cause of his own aneurysm.

" _His power-level isn't rising, yet he continues to avoid Nappa's attacks at the last second, almost like he's doing it on purpose."_ Vegeta didn't know exactly how or why, but he could only come to one conclusion. _"_ _This has to be some kind of instantaneous technique. There's no other explanation for it."_ Still unsure, he wanted to sit back and observe more, even if it was at the expense of his comrade's sanity.

So once more, Soba is on the ground, beckoning Nappa to attack him. That subtle smirk on the Yardrat's face was enough to make Nappa chip a back tooth from grinding it so hard. He surrounded himself with his blazing aura. He decided to go all in, blitzing Soba as fast as his untethered anger would allow him, yet just missing him by a centimeter as his target zipped away once more. Nappa formed a crater the size of ten thousand bowling balls as soon as his fist came into contact with the ground.

At this point, he was doing more damage to the planet itself than his damn opponent. Now Nappa just had another reason to be pissed.

Looking up, Vegeta's subordinate yells, "Where the hell are you!?" He rocketed into the sky to look around, head and eyes moving all over the place in a fit of blazing frustration.

Seeing this caused Vegeta to close his eyes. The feeling of absolute cringe that came upon him was nothing short of secondhand embarrassment. Hell, Vegeta couldn't call it secondhand embarrassment because Nappa was acting out so bad that he was making even his partner look bad. Growing tired of Nappa's angered pleas for him to come out and fight like a real man, Vegeta just about had enough.

In just milliseconds, Vegeta was in Nappa's face, startling him. The look on Vegeta's face was that of pure disappointment and extreme frustration.

"How about instead of trying to look for him with your eyes...USE YOUR GOD DAMN SCOUTER!"

Having some sense hammered into Nappa, the man calms down. He had completely forgotten he had the device over his eye. "Y-Yeah, right, Vegeta. You're right." As Vegeta descended back down mumbling nothing but insults that Nappa could barely make out, the bald Saiyan himself went on to using his scouter in hopes of detecting his target.

After an entire minute of trying to look for a source of power, Nappa looked down at Vegeta and shrugged. Vegeta mirrored Nappa's body language and the two both scoffed.

" _This prick has a real mastery over his energy to the point where even the scouters can't pick him up,"_ Vegeta thought to himself as he looked around. " _That's something that can come in great use for me."_

One last time, as if it was his last resort, Nappa yelled out for the man to come out and fight.

But unlike the last countless times, his scouter beeped, getting an actual reading. Unconcerned with the fact that Nappa got a reading of five hundred, he turned around and lifted his fingers up again, blowing up the entire vicinity in which his opponent was detected. The idea of catching the Yardrat off-guard came to Nappa as he was looking for him. With a little smirk, his eyes stared intently as the smoke was being quickly cleared up by the gust of wind that blew in the air.

Inside the crater, Soba remained still; having vanished just in time only to reappear in the crater where Nappa assumed to have him dead really messed with the bald man's head, to which immediately erased that little grin of triumph off the Saiyan's face.

"H-How…" was all Nappa could utter.

"It's really no wonder at this point why he was able to so easily dispatch of the ones who came here before us." Vegeta chuckled. He was sure that he and Nappa would manage to get the job done before Freeza's deadline, but this really was turning out to be an interesting turn of events. He just hoped he could get a crack at this guy if Nappa does any worse than what he is now.

"There has never been any assignment I've failed!" Nappa rushed off for Soba once more. "No creature that's managed to best me in battle and win! Even those who have brought me to the brink of death couldn't live to tell the tale! You're no different than them! You hear me!?"

This time, Soba figured he was really going to mess with Nappa's mind. Over dozens of times he had already vanished out of sight, yet there was still so much more he could do with his mastery of ki. Nappa was coming for him much faster than his eyes could process, albeit Soba relied on timing. So once more, Nappa missed him just as he was right there to give the first and final blow.

Again.

He missed him again.

This time it wasn't because the Yardrat disappeared out of thin air. It was because he shrunk himself in size. Having missed him completely, Nappa's entire upper half went through the ground that he punched.

Vegeta smacked his face with his forehead. Now it was just getting sad.

Soba brought himself back to his natural size and formed an energy barrier around Nappa, lifting him from under the ground. The big Saiyan kicked and punched at the barrier, but nothing came of it. Soba had poured enough excess energy to keep Nappa at bay. Once he could see that Nappa had no way out, Soba closed his fist to contract the barrier until it started to suffocate Nappa, who became the victim of an internal explosion from the barrier itself.

The thought of intervening crossed Vegeta's mind, but Nappa was still alive. He knew he wouldn't die from that, but he could tell it sure as well damn hurt.

Nappa's back was on the ground, shivering due to pain and constant growing anger. Out of his peripheral, there were many small pieces of his armor. Slowly he started to get up, body aching from the explosion, albeit eternally grateful he was still alive.

That sensation of pure pain was pushed down as he started to let his anger overtake him yet again. For someone with a battle power of 1,500, which was many times below his max power, embarrass him like this, was a stain on his ego and his pride.

But he didn't let his emotions get the best of him. That was the very thing Soba was using against him. He was hoping to wear and tear him down before he could give a good enough blow to end him for good. Nappa knew this, but he had just been too slow to see it. Taking in deep breaths to control his breathing, the veins surrounding Nappa's entire body started to thin out. He fixed his body posture and narrowed his eyes, focusing.

"You...you will pay." Closing his eyes, Nappa clenched his fists and crouched down.

Vegeta had a big, happy smile on his face. "Well, it's about time."

Concentrating, Nappa decided to go all out instead of relying on his anger. But in order for him to use the full extent of his power, he had to remain calm. Sure, no problem. The only goal from here on out was to detach that son of a bitch's head from his shoulders and plant it on a stake.

Nappa let out a chortle, confident that he was going to turn the tables now. In a flash of light, he was gone and into the sky, headed for Soba yet again.

Thinking quickly on his feet, Soba fires off a miniature dot of ki right for Nappa. Just as the Saiyan was ten yards away from him, a blue, thick layer of aura surrounded every inch of his body. By the time they were just three yards from their noses touching, Nappa was as slow as a tortoise. Channeling as much energy as possible into his fist, Soba renders the bald Saiyan a vicious haymaker across the face, one powerful enough to send him sailing through the sky.

Having gotten Nappa with a solid blow, Soba believed it was time to take further action. Using his instantaneous movement technique, he zipped right behind Vegeta.

The shorter, albeit more powerful Saiyan, got a read from his scouter just in time as a warning. Already one step ahead, Vegeta turns around toward his left with a fist full of energy in his right hand. Coming forth full motion, he pushed out a large wave of ki at point blank range.

Before he's hit, Soba just barely manages to get out the way.

" _He really is fast!"_

From up above, Soba speaks to Vegeta. "I may be weaker than the both of you. However, my knowledge in spirit is so much superior than yours that it is actually I who holds the advantage in this battle. While you have to rely on those profitless gadgets to detect people, I can simply sense a person's energy." He slowly raised his two fingers to his head. "Demonstration."

Nappa came at him from behind, hoping to catch the Yardrat off-guard, but to no avail.

Soba retaliated with a blast from behind, but Nappa, who was grinning, just waited until it got as close as possible. Soba in his mind was thinking that the Saiyan will just smack it away and try to form a blast of his own from the hands, but just as the Saiyans underestimated him, Soba underestimated Nappa's improvisation.

The Saiyan, turning around, opened his mouth as wide as possible. A hefty sum of ki came out, evaporating Soba's attack within milliseconds. The native was taken aback but knew he had to act quickly. Doing what he can only do best, the man used instant transmission.

But still, he was grazed.

Soba wasn't there where they last spotted him, but Vegeta was laughing hysterically when he saw a leg drop right on the ground as blood spurted out the detached limb. Vegeta's contagious laughter soon influenced Nappa, who was just mainly happy at the fact that he finally got to deal some damage on the bodacious trickster.

"About time, ehheheh!" All that anger and frustration was gone now. Nappa had completely forgotten about the humiliation he was having to deal with for all of two minutes. He touched down on land and walked over to the amputated leg to pick it up. Without even thinking, he took a bite out of it and crunched on the bones with a genuine liking for the taste. Vegeta shook his head as he chuckled while Nappa gave him a thumbs up as confirmation that they were good for food. "This is exactly what happens when you mess with a mid-class warrior of Planet Vegeta!"

His minor victory was short lived though as he felt a big sting at the bottom of his foot. Looking down, Vegeta spotted Soba just about the size of a frog, kicking at his heel.

"Why, you little!"

Nappa raised his foot to stomp on him, but Soba was already one step ahead. The Yardrat increased his height to the size of an Oozaru. The missing leg was also no problem as he was able to channel energy into forming a total energetic version of his leg that consisted of chi with a blue, transparent color. Still, the tip of the Yardrat's chi based foot was enough to send Nappa off his own feet and crashing over into one of the buildings from afar.

Despite being much weaker, Soba's knowledge of countless techniques and abilities was what helped him, as well as his mastery over ki. This was his only bet when it came to this fight. Fighting anyone equal to his strength other than a fellow Yardrat would prove to be too easy. But these two? He had to stay on his toes at all times. Even fighting at his most cautious still cost him a leg.

Nappa erupted from the top of the building, growling. "RAGH! You just don't quit, do you!?"

Vegeta was there behind Nappa with his hand on his comrade's quivering shoulders. "Stand down, Nappa."

"W-What?" Nappa started to stutter. He knew that things weren't looking all that well for him, but the first time he got off a critical strike, it was lethal enough to have his opponent end up with a missing leg. All he'd need at worst is a few more minutes before the Yardrat croaked. "But Vegeta, I-"

"As I said," Vegeta told him sternly. "Stand down. It's quite obvious that his mastery of ki is doing a number on you. You won't admit it, but that barrier blast did a lot more damage than you want to let off. I shouldn't even need to explain myself to you. Just do as I say, understood!?"

Nappa gulped. "Yes, sir."

Vegeta smirked. "Good." He removed his scouter from over his eye and handed it over to his subordinate. "Now hold this for me, will you?"

"Yes, my prince."

Feeling a sense of energy coming right for them, Vegeta looked behind him, catching a glimpse of a large attack. Nappa's scouter came soon after, as it detected a hefty amount of energy. Unable to move out of the way, he is struck dead on. Soba, with his effortless maneuver of energy, manages to direct Nappa into the ground with his attack and bring about a grand explosion that cleared the majority of the abandoned city, emptying most its skyscrapers made of Yardrat's metal.

In the crater, Nappa was put to a state of unconsciousness. Vegeta couldn't see what kind of condition he was in because of the smoke, but ever since Soba told him about sensing people, Vegeta had been training himself at that since then, which was the inspiration for removing his scouter. Though it was hard to tell initially, he came to the conclusion that Nappa was still alive. As far as how, he had no clue given the excess amount of energy put into that attack was enough to even draw unwanted blood from him had it struck.

Opening his eyes, Vegeta sees a fist coming right for him. He caught Soba's attack with his hand and watched the Yardrat struggle as he tried to follow through. Vegeta was pulling his arm down with ease and the cocky look on his face showed as much.

"You're going to have to try a lot harder than that if you want to put the same show on with me as you did with Mr. Idiot over there."

Using Soba's momentum against him, Vegeta allowed Soba to follow through, but only just so that he could elevate Soba above head and toss him down toward the ground with all his might. Before Soba comes in contact with the ground below him, he abuses his technique once more, vanishing out of a complete line of sight.

Doing what he can to play at his game, Vegeta closes his eyes in an effort to focus on the familiar energy signal that belonged to his opponent. The warrior turned around upon feeling the Yardrat's presence behind him, but he was just a moment too slow. Soba landed a solid kick across the face, albeit it was only powerful enough to send Vegeta back to form only a minute amount of space between them. The strike didn't so much as tickle Vegeta.

Still, though the kick dealt no damage, he felt blood trickling down from the corner of his lip.

"You sensed that I was behind you," Soba observed. "I didn't take you for one to have knowledge of spirit control." He was starting to consider that this man was perhaps very much cut from a different cloth compared to those that had already arrived to attack his home and people before him.

"From a warrior race I come," Vegeta informed the man with a tone of pride. "We adapt quickly to overtake our enemies."

"Well, I'm not your enemy," Soba told him. "You're just a drone following orders that I have to disassemble."

Vegeta fired off a wave of ki at the man in a short burst of anger at the verbal attack.

Yet again, Soba zipped before he could be struck. Sensing his presence, Vegeta was quick to launch a ball of fiery, hot, raging ki toward the area where he sensed Soba, but the man was too smart. Having tricked even Vegeta, Soba was gone before the blast made it to the area where Vegeta felt him to be at.

Instead of trying to strike him from afar, Vegeta took flight to chase after Soba. Having just started battle with this clown, the prince was beginning to get annoyed with his antics.

" _He can't keep this up forever."_

After an entire minute of chasing, Vegeta starts sending a succession of rapid fire down below, unleashing a literal hell upon Yardrat's land. He only made sure to not strike his unconscious comrade nor the remaining buildings in the area as far as to keep the resale value strong and Nappa alive.

Vegeta carried on for two minutes straight. He managed to pump out so much smoke in the area that the entire city itself wasn't even remotely visible. It was nothing but dust and anyone without the knowledge of energy sensing would be as lost as a toddler in a forest on their lonesome.

Above the smoke that started to reach his nose as he was hundreds of feet in the air, Vegeta grinned. He wanted the smokescreen to be on a grand scale so that he himself couldn't even see the area down below. "You're doing pretty well for having a lost limb!" Sure enough, in Vegeta's mind, the blood loss was due to catch up to the man eventually.

Down below with the current camouflage to help him out, Soba, with his concealed battle power, hid behind a building. He took this as the perfect opportunity to relieve himself. By forcing a great portion of energy into forming his own leg, the blood that was being built up from inside had been taking a toll on him ever since.

Wincing in pain all the while concentrating to hide his key, Soba had his back against the wall and eased on the amount of ki he put into his leg. However, it backfired as a big gush of blood shot right out, which had caught him by great surprise. Almost having panicked, Soba was quick to force the energy to cover up his weak spot.

And that was all Vegeta needed. He felt the energy level go right back down, but he concentrated on finding the exact spot where he felt it. As he was on ground, Vegeta focused on hiding his key as well while he slowly drew himself closer to Soba's current location of security.

Once he was just across from him, Vegeta took in a deep breath. Then he made his move.

Letting all his power come about as soon as he charged, Soba was alerted as he was attempting to assuage the aching pain in his thigh. Unable to react in time, a solid punch to the stomach lifted Soba off his feet. Vegeta's face was covered in the excess amount of blood that came from Soba's mouth prior to said Yardrat's back going through two different layers of the building he hid behind. Once he crashed on his back, the energy that was helping his leg heal had all but vanished. Blood was squirting everywhere and Soba groaned in displeasure, doing his best of not giving his assailant the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

Vegeta, realizing he had managed to win this bout, walked over to the elder of Yardrat with his head held high. "All that showing off," he taunted. "And for what? For you to just die like the weakling you are?" Stopping a handful of meters shy of the fallen man, Vegeta held his hand out. "One way or the other, I am the one who ends your life."

Sensing a multitude of people in the area, Vegeta looked over his shoulder to find five other Yardratians behind him, charging attacks. The Saiyan moved out of the way to avoid all of their blasts, but they maneuvered their ki attacks to follow him. He swatted each of them away effortlessly prior to touching back down on land, only to witness all five of them placing their hands on their mentor.

Once they moved their hand away, Vegeta could sense Soba's power coming back up, as if he was replenished. The bruises and blood loss came to a halt. The wound had been closed shut. He was able to replace his leg with energy once before without any trouble at all.

" _They can heal!?"_ Vegeta growled internally. " _Now it all makes sense! The bastards! Their powers are far beyond that of the physical."_

Soba, Pybara, and the other four mentees all stood alongside each other, taking on the exact same battle stances.

If all of them were to hold the same abilities as the man that he and Nappa had been dealing with since they've gotten here, then Vegeta would be having to waste a lot of time just to take care of them.

Still, it wasn't a challenge he was just going to back down from.

"Bring it on!"

And so they did.

* * *

After an entire ten minutes of battling all six weaklings at once, Vegeta only managed to kill one of them; that kill was by pure luck and ever since then, the last five had been fighting more strategically against him, executing flawlessly on their defenses and only retaliating as a way to provoke the Saiyan to come at them multiple times, which was only in an effort to drag out the fight for as long as they could without wasting much energy themselves.

After dodging five consecutive attempts at striking him up close by surprise, Vegeta was on land, huffing and puffing. They hadn't been giving him a break and it was truly starting to take a toll on his stamina. Closing his eyes as they all concealed their ki at once, he was just awaiting another attack from any possible angle.

Feeling all five of their energies rising above, he already knows what their plan was; by channeling excess energy into one point, they were hoping to also combine their attack and form a blast powerful enough to deal a decent deal of damage. Vegeta shot off a myriad of ki attacks as fast as he could in hopes of getting them off guard, but the five Yardrats vanished out of sight, reappeared behind Vegeta, and fired directly onto his back at point blank range.

The force sent Vegeta off his feet and crashing into another building from afar. Half of the infrastructure landed on him, which only added to the pain he felt. He thought about getting right back up, but an idea flashed right into that witty brain of his. As he remained lying down, the burning sensation on his back was more painful than even he would like to admit, and the cool air brushing against the burnt area on the skin of his back was indication enough that their attacks were powerful enough to put a hole in the back side of his armored plate.

Breathing harder than he was earlier as he started to sweat, Vegeta realized what they were doing.

" _They think they can actually beat me by wearing me out. That's been their game plan all along. Once I'm vulnerable enough, they intend to strike me down for good."_

Before they could catch on to what he planned to do, Vegeta made it priorities number one and two to get in control of his breathing and to conceal his power; by slowing down his breathing pattern enough to the point where it appeared as if he wasn't even moving while suppressing his power as much as possible, he will have convinced them that their attacks had dealt critical damage to keep him at bay.

Very slowly and cautiously, all five of them approach the 'fallen' Vegeta.

"He's on his last few breaths," Pybara remarked.

Soba was unsure, but the amount of stress and hoops that he put the Saiyan through was definitely taking a toll on him. He knew well enough that the Saiyan was hurt by that last strike and in addition to his fatigue, it could have been the beginning of the end for him from that moment on.

"Let's finish him right here and now," Soba said. "No time to waste."

Soba and his pupils all held their hands out, generating a large sum of ki in perfect synch. However, before any of them could go ahead and deliver the finishing blow, an explosion from afar had caught their attention. Thinking it was the other Saiyan, Soba was going to have two of his pupils go that way, but Nappa came from the opposite direction as he had formed a distraction to keep them off guard. The bald Saiyan had got some needed rest and he was ready to spring right back into action.

All five of them weren't fast enough as they had been clotheslined by Nappa. Three of them, who took the brunt force of the damage, had their windpipes crushed on impact. Pybara and Soba were both sent sliding on their backs.

Taking advantage, Vegeta opened his eyes with a wide grin, flared his purple aura, and took off for the both Soba and Pybara. Neither of the could come back from the excruciating hit they took from Nappa in time. Because of this, Vegeta ended the both of them by reducing Soba and Pybara to ashes with a mighty wave of ki.

Once that was settled and done, Nappa looked up at Vegeta, proud. "Looks like I jumped in at the right time, didn't I?"

In any other circumstance, Vegeta would have scolded Nappa for giving out unsolicited help, but the truth was that the flame-haired Saiyan was relieved when his subordinate jumped in. He was getting extremely annoyed by their techniques and vexing strategies as he struggled to maintain his poise.

"Mhm. And how are you feeling? Did your nap bring you back to a state of clarity?"

"Ha Ha," Nappa responded as he rolled his eyes. He came down by Vegeta's side and folded his arms. "I think these guys were the best that the planet had to offer. The rest should be a walk in the park."

"Indeed."

Vegeta and Nappa were ready to just get on with the mission so that they could head out to Earth already. By just finding the rest and disposing of them quickly was the ideal mindset, but plans almost never went as they imagined.

Darkness swooned over the both of them. The sun that put upon great light from above had either been blocked by something or disappeared. With both their eyes to the ground, Nappa and Vegeta observed hundreds of shadows from up above.

Nappa looked behind and up, eyes widening in shock.

As for Vegeta, he had his eyes closed and took a big sigh. He knew this was going to be a long day.

Turning around, Vegeta laid eyes on what his comrade was witnessing. All the adult and capable natives of Yardrat were banded together by the hundreds, surrounding Vegeta and Nappa in countless columns and rows, forming an entire circle around them.

Nappa was speechless. Vegeta already knew what he was thinking as they both were thinking the very same thing.

Still, Vegeta wasn't going to back down, no matter how tired he was.

_"You're all going to pay!"_ Was what the hundreds of voices said in the minds of Vegeta and Nappa. Both Saiyans, with a surprised look, eyed one another. Of course, given the outrageous skill-set that they had, they'd be able to use telepathy. Vegeta wondered just what other ability that they held, but he didn't concern himself over with it at all. They had business to take care of.

Igniting his aura through the energy reserves he had left, Vegeta got into his battle stance.

"Let's just get this over with!"

* * *

As after any other completed assignment, silence filled the void that was practically nothing.

A stack of dead bodies had been piled up so high that it served as a jump starter to travel to the moon.

And even still, they weren't done stacking bodies.

Nappa is on the ground with his back against the ground. He can't keep his eyes open. It hurts to breathe and his body is aching like it never has before and the thought of death wasn't too bad right now. He had worn himself out to the extreme and fought so hard that his boots had been torn to pieces.

As for Vegeta, he knew that they didn't have much time left until the aftermath of their completed assignment was to begin. Freeza's clients and buyers were expecting this planet to be swiped clean by now, so it was only a matter of time until they all arrived.

His entire upper armor was gone. His pants were ripped, and one of his eyes were sealed shut. Vegeta's legs were so sore that it hurt just to slightly raise his knee. But still, they had a job to finish.

Just walking back and forth to get one body after the other felt like he was in an entirely different world. Vegeta's eyes were closed the entire time as he instinctively knew where the rest of the corpses resided. There were moments where he even fell asleep while walking. He didn't know how much longer he could take. After the first few minutes of stacking bodies, Vegeta stopped throwing them on top of each other and just simply had them all together, touching. It was a small stack but a big group of dead bodies over all. He stepped on faces, toes, legs, whatever it was, just to have them in a pile.

As soon as Vegeta grabbed the last one, he felt as if he was in heaven.

Not a second after he let the person's hand go close enough to the pile made, he dropped right on top of the corpses of the Yardrats. If there were elderly and children unable to take care of themselves, then it was only a matter of time until they were to die anyway.

Without a care in the world, he closed his eyes and welcomed the feeling of rest.

"V-Vegeta…" Nappa groaned.

"Huh…" Vegeta asked, starting to sleep.

"D-Do y-you think...w-we'll be getting our p-planet now…"

Though he barely heard him, Vegeta just nodded. "Mhm…"

And then he drifted right off to sleep.

* * *

The events that took place on Yardrat felt like a dream for Vegeta when he finally opened his eyes.

The moment he felt that he was lying down on a bed below him, his eyes narrowed. He didn't remember much moments before he passed out, but he knew for a fact that he was stacking bodies and that he wasn't anywhere near a bed.

Looking over to his left, Vegeta spotted another bed as well, though unlike the bed was on, that one was empty. Slowly but surely, it all started to come back to him.

_"Must have been the bed Nappa was on."_

Even still, it never answered his question as to how in the first place. Just placing his feet on the ground elicited a wince from the prince as an aching and burning sensation was wrecking his entire body. The manner in which he got off the bed was akin to an elderly man who was on his last walking days. He limped over to the fresh set of armor and a new scouter on a counter for him. It took a total five entire minutes of putting them on before he walked out of the tent, also with a scouter attached to his face, in order to keep up with appearances.

It was night time.

And this world seemed to be flourishing with different individuals having arrived. Now he was beginning to be unable to distinguish reality from dreamworld, but the sight of a simple building from afar was more than enough of a mental note that he was still on Yardrat.

The fact that the buyers had already seemed to be settling in as engineers and lower-tier workers of the Freeza Force brought in goods through carts and airships had Vegeta questioning just how long he happened to be out for.

The tent Vegeta was in was placed on a rocky mountain of the planet far from the city that he and Nappa had battled in. As he was near the edge, Vegeta walked over there to it. Right in the heart of the abandoned city, there were multiple fires burning out in the distance within close proximity.

No doubt those were the bodies of the rest of the people that were found: the weak, women, children, and men that hadn't joined in on the final battle. As the blazing fire captured his view, Vegeta couldn't help but smile with pride.

Sure, he was much stronger than them and superior in almost every way possible; he was physically faster and stronger, which were the two main attributes to dictate a winner of any battle. On the other side, they were just as sharp as him, and they were also superior to him in the utilization of energy. The pride came from the fact that yet again, Vegeta found himself in a situation where the odds were stacked against him and he managed to come out on top. It had been years since he had suffered any challenge like this in the past. Nappa tapped out just on the latter end of the fight and he was by himself, on his last legs, though his determination and will to push through pushed him to continue living, to continue fighting, and to continue chasing his goal of immortality...and a new empire.

_"It's not over for me. Not by a long shot."_

Being distracted by his own thoughts, he didn't feel a familiar presence approaching him from behind.

"Lookin' brand new, huh, prince? It's about time you woke up cuz I was beginning to think you were in a comatose or somethin'."

By the first word that came from his big mouth, Vegeta knew that it was Nappa.

"It looks like the new people have already decided to settle in," Vegeta said as he continued to observe from the edge.

"Yeah. When our scouters were broken, Lord Freeza was beginning to think that we were dead, too! He, Zarbon and a clean up crew over here to check out what happened and found that we were just about done with 98% of the population. They cleaned up the rest no biggie and figured that we completed the assignment."

"So Freeza's here as well?"

"Lord Freeza," Zarbon corrected as he walked up the edge, trailing Nappa from behind. With a little twitch of the neck, the green-haired alien flipped his ponytail behind his back and onto the silky cape he wore. With Zarbon's presence, Vegeta turned around, giving him his undivided attention. "It looks like you two really ran into trouble here."

"Nothing we couldn't handle," Vegeta responded dryly.

"Hmp! Judging by what your partner told me, these people were quite the magicians. Had we been any hours shorter, you two would probably be dead due to starvation or dehydration, joined with the burning bodies you were looking at over there."

Vegeta smiled. "Why didn't you just toss me in, Zarbon?"

The man mimicked Vegeta's facial expression and replied sarcastically. "Lord Freeza cares very, very, very deeply about you, Vegeta. You know this." With a wink, he turned around. "Speaking of which, Lord Freeza is waiting for the both of you. He wishes to have a discussion before you two embark on your path of having a planet of your own."

"Where is he?" Nappa asked.

"Just follow me," Vegeta told him.

The one unsettling thing Vegeta had to deal with since waking up was the immeasurable amount of energy resonating in one specific area. He believed it had to be Freeza, though at the same time didn't believe Freeza would come all the way out here until Zarbon had confirmed so.

All Vegeta could think was, _"What now?"_

* * *

In the sky was Freeza's big, round ship. Residing temporarily just under the clouds, his ship remained on auto-pilot as he made circles around the planet, observing the process of the new race of people settling in and splitting their share of the dead Yardrat's resources with the Freeza Force. With the task done and more money as well as assets at his disposal, the pint-sized tyrant was most pleased.

The sliding doors behind them automatically opened. He needed not to look as he had called solely for Vegeta and Nappa just moments ago.

"Usually, I would congratulate the both of you on your flawless operation, but considering the condition you were in upon us arriving here, I believe it'd be an insult to consider such a thing flawless." He then turned around. "That, and the fact that there were some feeble people left alive, but I digress." He clapped his hands once. "Job well done, soldiers. Now it's no mystery as to why the crews before you weren't capable of doing anything."

"You may keep our earnings from this assignment and push that to the planet we intend on buying," Vegeta told Freeza.

Freeza smiled. "I had already intended on doing that, Vegeta. However, that wasn't the reason I called for you two." Having gotten their attention, Freeza beckoned his hover chair in the corner toward him prior to hopping inside. He then stretched himself out to get comfortable. "About this Saiyan on Earth, do you truly wish to go there and kill him or do you wish to recruit?"

"Kill," Vegeta answered curtly. "A traitor isn't permitted to have my respect, much less fight alongside me."

"Mhm. Understood. Well, ever since our last interaction, I've thought about the possibility of there being other Saiyans out there. I sent out a search party to potentially find more. Though we've managed to find one, I still have search parties looking for more in this insanely vast world we call the Universe."

"There's another Saiyan survivor?" Nappa asked. "Seriously?"

Freeza nodded. "I have affiliations with the planet that he resides on, so it wasn't really anything to have some common men with loose ties here to investigate. When told to report to me, he denied doing so, claiming that he was sent away and has no part with the Freeza Force."

"Sent away? So another weakling, then."

"You may assume such, but he was strong enough to take out some soldiers that I sent his way to take him by force. He even killed Appule with no trouble at all. While he may not be on your level, he remains problematic. And considering that he is a Saiyan, that problem for me means that it's also a problem for you. There are even people who have taken his side since he proved himself to be oh so strong. When you're done on Earth, that world will be your next destination. You will NOT have him killed, nor will you exterminate all people on that planet. Once you arrive, scare them a bit, for I'll be right behind you." This made Nappa and Vegeta blink in confusion, though the latter of the two was the first to come to the realization as of why; he intended on making an example. "As much as the homicidal part of me wishes to exterminate them all, the people does actually provide some worthwhile services. Now I have the perfect reason to go ahead and suck up more of their resources. I will make an example out of this Saiyan and they will pledge their allegiance to me, without question."

Nappa chuckled. "Looks like we have nothing but good times ahead of us, then."

Freeza nodded. "I'm glad that you see it that way. The coordinates for Planet Tech Tech are already set in. Once you finish your business on Earth, I will have men go there to search for any potentially valuable resources before I allow you to purchase and reside there whenever convenient. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"Good. You are dismissed."

On their way back to their pods, Nappa and Vegeta didn't share a word. Nappa could tell by the look on Vegeta's face that he wasn't happy, and he could tell why: Freeza having men sent there to Earth after their mission was completed. There wouldn't be a way for them to be able to actually leave people alive to reproduce if Freeza was going to have men sent to Earth after they called in the planet being rid of all native life. Not only that, but they'd have to leave as soon as they were done. And knowing how weak the inhabitants of that planet were, it wouldn't take long at all and Freeza more than likely expected such.

So Nappa didn't ask any questions. He didn't crack jokes. He didn't even share his own thoughts on the matter.

In any serious and risky situation, Nappa knew one thing best…

Let Vegeta do the thinking.


	3. Battle for Earth, Wishes, and Women

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vegeta and Nappa have grown stronger thanks to their battle on Yardrat, meaning more of a challenge for Goku and his allies to overcome; It won't be anything easy for them, though...not with immortality and a new possible beginning on the line for Vegeta and Nappa.

Most of the stress that Goku's allies had on their shoulders once they realized that Raditz's comrades would attack had been majorly lifted once Goku had been wished back prior to the arrival of the expected Saiyan party. Thanks to Vegeta and Nappa having an assignment bestowed upon them from Freeza, they'd take a little longer until they made it to their main destination for Earth.

Still, Vegeta and Nappa were nothing more than just over a week behind their own personal schedule. The little extra time that the Saiyans took wasn't much a service for the Earthlings as the training done in that amount of time wouldn't be enough to help propel their powers to leaps and bounds.

Still, they did what they could; with Goku by their side, anything was possible.

Subsequent to his return, Goku decided to take the little time they had until the Saiyan's arrival to hang with his family. King Kai had informed him on how close Vegeta and Nappa were after taking a few detours and believed that nine more days truly wouldn't do much, which convinced Goku to rest and chill out.

It didn't make relaxing time less stressful, but Goku wanted to make the most of it. Chi-Chi recognized this and appreciated it. And since Goku was back, Gohan didn't have to go out on the battle-field. As much as Goku had made a case by saying then Gohan's training would have been for nothing, he inevitably acquiesced, much to his son's disappointment.

* * *

Goku's rival at the time, Piccolo, was by himself. Again.

As he stood on a rocky mountain with his cloak's cloth flapping harshly from the strong winds, he was contemplating on his time spent with Gohan. The boy, in just half a year of surviving out in the wild by himself, was an entirely different person compared to the time when he had first met the crybaby brat.

After just one solid week of physical combat training, Gohan was turning into a fine warrior. His power dramatically improved every week following since the start of his latter half of training. Truth be told, Piccolo had a conflicted feeling of jealousy and pride bubbling down in the pits of his stomach. For a kid with such invaluable potential just be told to stay out of the fight for all that time he spent getting stronger made Piccolo's heart drop to the floor. All the time he wasted working on Gohan, he could have just worked on himself to be even stronger. And he wouldn't have to get so close to his enemy's son.

It was all the more reason for Piccolo to despise the very atoms that made up Son Goku. After this, he was for sure going to kill Goku again.

But him being in his head wasn't meant to last long. The sharp incoming powers approaching from the sky up above made a shiver go down his spine. A low grumble escaped the green man's mouth.

"They're here…"

* * *

The everyday routines of people in East City was brought to an absolute halt when two unidentified flying objects landed smack dab into the city. There had been quite a few casualties caused by this surprise landing, but it wasn't as if Vegeta or Nappa cared.

With all the time of rest that Nappa and Vegeta had gotten during their trip, the both of them were in one hundred percent perfect condition for battle of any kind. Soreness? Gone. Aches? Gone.

From only battle damage endured and injuries could they become stronger in their line of work. Not that the people of Earth stood a chance with them to begin with, but they truly didn't now that their powers had naturally grown since their last mission.

Nappa waited for Vegeta to step outside his pod as they were inside the crater. Looking at his comrade with a smile, Nappa seemed to be proud of something. "It's amazing, this whole energy sensing thing! Can you feel all these weaklings around us right now?"

"Of course, Nappa. I see you're getting the hang of it now that you have something to focus on other than me."

Amongst the countless chatter going on outside from the bewildered Earthlings, Nappa continued their little small talk. "You know, this would have been useful back on Yardrat, right?"

Vegeta shrugged, not caring. As far as he was concerned, they still made it out alive. "If you want to get better at it, then I suggest you leave your scouter in the pod like I've left mine. Consider this planet your training grounds for detecting people without having to rely on a gadget that can be easily used against you."

Nappa removed his scouter from his face and tossed inside his pod without hesitation. "Sounds like fun."

Upon showing themselves off to the Earthlings by ascending from the crater, Nappa and Vegeta were genuinely pleased by the mixed look of emotions plastered on the faces of the Earthlings. First impressions in itself is a Universal thing, and it mattered to the Saiyans, too. So for them to meet one or a group of people for the first time and realize that they were able to induce terror and uncertainty into the hearts of their soon to be victims made their jobs all the more pleasurable. As many people rambled on about the fact that aliens were real, others were speechless, showing their shock, fear, as others were just so taken aback by this event that they couldn't even function enough to form an expression.

"This planet looks to be more promising than what I thought," Vegeta said, looking around the area. As he observed and thought to himself, Vegeta noticed that the expectations of what he thought of Earth truly was below the reality of the matter. It made him start questioning himself, at least a little bit. But of course, Vegeta, if able to think long enough, had a solution for everything. " _This planet has the potential price of being above what we can afford. We'll have to devalue it at least just a little."_ Looking over to his subordinate, Vegeta told him, "Let's give these people a nice and cozy introduction."

Nappa read between the lines and knew precisely what it was that his partner wanted to be done. "Hehehehehe." Without hesitation, Nappa lifted the tips of his first two fingers, bringing about an explosion many times more powerful than a nuclear weapon, erasing the entire East City and everything in it save for their two pods. Just looking at the light that came from Nappa's blast was high risk for no longer having the ability to see with the naked eye. What used to be a city was nothing but a dry, burnt, and smoking piece of land that lasted for miles. "Now, how about that?"

"Good. From now on, we ought to be careful. It'll be quite unfortunate if we destroyed any of the Dragon Balls."

"True that. So what now? Do we go after them?"

"You tell me, Nappa."

Though initially confused for a second, Nappa eventually understood that Vegeta wanted him to figure it out on his own accord. Closing his eyes and focusing, the big, bald giant of a man could feel something coming towards them. "Looks like they're coming right for us. They wouldn't be able to pinpoint our location unless they could sense ki, too."

"I know," Vegeta said. "The last race of weaklings we faced off against could sense and suppress their battle power. We know from the fight with Raditz that they can suppress their true power, so it's not unlikely they can sense ki as well."

Nappa shook his head. "But I swear, if these guys fight anything like them, then I-"

"We'll just get stronger after we kill them," Vegeta cut him off. "Now stop your complaining. They're here."

Goku and the others appeared to be more like silouhettes as they hovered just beneath the rays of Earth's sun. Vegeta and Nappa could feel the hardened glares being as intense as the bright star that their world revolved around.

"Six of them," Nappa said, counting.

Vegeta remained silent. Of the six people that were in the sky, Goku was the one in the middle. As they came down, Vegeta and Goku's stare was unwavering. The Saiyan prince could feel the power within him. Judging based off the powers he felt while fighting on Yardrat, Goku was much stronger than he was compared to when he fought Raditz just over a year ago. And knowing him, he was definitely hiding his true strength. This intrigued Vegeta, but he didn't think on it long at all and instead broke the ice with them.

"Good of you all to come to us instead of us having to come for you," Vegeta greeted. "Still, being cursed with the presence of a treacherous low-level weakling makes my skin crawl."

"Let's get one thing straight," Piccolo stepped up. "What business do you two have here? Hoping to avenge your friend?"

Vegeta and Nappa laughed, much to the discomfort of the few across from them.

"Laughing at your own partner's death doesn't seem to me like they thought of them as friends, Piccolo," Tien remarked.

"I don't recall asking for your opinion," Piccolo retorted.

Once the laughter from the two Saiyans died down, Vegeta spoke. "So you're the one who killed the weakling that you so incorrectly called our friend. Well, let me make it crystal clear for you; we aren't here to avenge that bottom feeder. We're here for the Dragon Balls."

To see them disregard the partner that they've been working with for so long shook Krillin to his core, but what was more shocking to him was the fact that they knew of the wish granting orbs that they often relied on. "They know about the Dragon Balls!?" Krillin exclaimed.

"Of course," Piccolo told him.

"I guess it kind of makes sense why Raditz lost now," Nappa said. "The one who beat him is a Namekian."

The revelation of Piccolo being a Namekian came as a shock to Goku and everyone else, especially the green looking slug himself. Vegeta, observing the man, noticed the green skin, antennas, as well as the different textured pattern on his arms and four fingers. All his physical characteristics proved him to be a Namekian, a superior species to the Earthlings and almost equal to the Saiyan kind - at least in legend. While he didn't expect a Namekian to be on such a backwater planet, their kind was known for space travel at one point and they were often spotted on a multitude of different worlds, given that tribes had migrated many times in the past.

"I would suppose so." Vegeta rubbing his chin, grinned, looking right at Piccolo. "So you're the one who created the Dragon Balls, then?" Piccolo looked on with a stern look, unresponsive. "It's okay, you don't have to answer that. It's well known that the Namekians have special powers that exceed that of simplistic physical capabilities, going as far as sorcery. It's no doubt you're the key to the Dragon Balls." He looked at Nappa. "We'll have to keep this one alive."

"Easier said than done, but I'll try."

"Don't try, do."

"None of these people here are dying," Goku told them.

"Nappa here will gladly be sure to prove you wrong," Vegeta responded.

Sensing the overwhelming power creeping from Nappa, everyone got on guard but Goku. The Earth-raised Saiyan's body language screamed out confidence.

"Don't worry about this one, guys. I can take him on by myself."

"Goku, are you crazy!?" Krillin asked. "I know you can feel the power he has!"

"Worst yet, he's holding back," Piccolo also observed. "He must be new to controlling his own power too because his energy keeps fluctuating - like he's trying to keep it at bay."

"Doesn't matter. I'm holding back much more than him."

"Oh, really? Hahahaha!" Crouching down, Nappa began to power up, focusing solely on Goku. "I'm going to enjoy tearing you limb from limb!"

It was enough of a struggle for Goku's allies to remain on their two feet as Nappa had the ground beginning to shake with his raw energy, but Goku stood firm. Just like Nappa, he also started to crouch down and power up.

"We have to keep our eyes on the other one," Chaotzu reminded.

Vegeta waved them off and scoffed. "Oh, please. I'm here to enjoy the show just as much as you are. Don't worry." He smiled. "I won't bite."

Once the rocks that levitated off the ground stopped and fell back down, both Goku and Nappa shot off into the skies and came at each other. The first blow propelled the both of them back briefly before they came at one another at an even hastier pace.

As Nappa was blocking most of his punches and kicks, he laughed in the younger Saiyan's face. "You might have been able to take me on a while ago, but not now!" Swatting a failed strike, Nappa struck his opponent with a boot into the gut and an upside down kick atop of the head.

Son Goku recovered by landing on his feet. Seeing that Nappa was already coming for him, Goku rushed in at him again. The two started going back and forth once more, but Nappa was more on the offensive this time. Goku did his best to keep up for the first few seconds, but he was caught clean with a solid hook across the face and an upper-cut to the chin. Before he was sent to the clouds, Nappa grabbed Goku by his ankles and started on his way down at full speed.

Everyone down below watched as Nappa was coming down hot like a falling meteorite.

Vegeta observed the looks on their faces and mocked them. "Things aren't looking to bright now, are they?"

"Oh, shut the hell up," Piccolo told Vegeta. "I can already tell by the way Goku's fighting that he has something up his sleeve. He's just sizing him up."

Vegeta didn't respond to the disrespect from Piccolo as he looked back up to observe the fight. " _At least he fights like a Saiyan."_

Moments before Nappa could smash Goku's back into the ground below, Goku decided to rely on his newly learned technique.

**"Kaio-Ken!"**

Goku's body was surrounded by a bright red aura. Subsequent to pulling his ankle away from Nappa's grip, he used his other leg to kick Nappa clean across the face, sending him back. Shooting after the bald Saiyan, Goku maneuvered behind him and rammed two of his fists into the man's nose. As Nappa plummeted down below, Goku reappeared on land and kicked him once more into a building from afar.

"WHOAH, HOLY SHIT!" Krillin yelled. "What in the hell was that?"

Goku looked over his shoulders with a smirk as he touched down. "A technique that King Kai taught me: the Kaio-Ken."

"I knew you were holding something back," Tien said. "You always do."

Vegeta remained quiet and watched as Nappa got up, eyes wide at the fact that he was actually thrown around with genuine ease by some lower-class trash. _"_ _So Kakarot has a technique of his own that allows him to double his power…"_ Vegeta scoffed. " _Still not enough for me. I'll wipe the floor with him."_

"Why you!" Nappa raged. "Just what in the hell was that, Kakarot!?"

"I just explained myself," Goku sassed. "Maybe if you were listening instead of focusing on getting your ears to stop ringing, you'd know."

Getting verbally disrespected by someone cut from a weaker cloth than him caused Nappa's face to go red. Without thinking, he shot forth at Goku. "WHY YOU!"

Their second go round was much different than the first; initially, Nappa was focused and fighting to his full capability, though now that he was enraged, he started to fight sloppy - just sloppy enough to get on even terms with Goku, who without the Kaio-Ken, is inferior to him.

After their punches collided for the hundredth time, Goku spun around and raised his knee as Nappa cocked back his fist. Nappa's fist made contact with Goku's face just as Goku's foot made solid contact with Nappa's jaw.

The two were sent away briefly before they came back for one another once more.

"Look at 'em go," Tien said, hypnotized by their speed. "I can't even keep up."

Vegeta noticed that Nappa's anger caused him to stoop down to Goku's level. For some reason he could never understand, Nappa was always like this. Any Saiyan could be labeled as temperamental, but Nappa was one of the worst examples of them. He could be as cool as a cucumber, but once he was mad, Vegeta felt like he was dealing with a big baby. It took sometimes hours just for Nappa to be happy again unless he killed the thing that made him mad in the first place.

After knocking each other away once more, Nappa could be seen breathing heavy, as Goku took a deep and slow breath.

"There's just no way you can be this strong," Nappa yelled as he wiped blood from this lip. "You couldn't even take on Raditz one year ago - RADITZ! How could you stand up to me, a mid-class soldier - no, an ELITE soldier! My name is Nappa god dammit and I'll make sure you scream it by the time I'm almost finished with you."

Goku's breathing seemed to come to an absolute halt. His eyes narrowed, and his body started to glow the same color red as before.

Not even having to yell Kaio-Ken out loud, Goku was using the technique. Without warning, he rushed in on Nappa, channeling energy into one single strike. Nappa's foot bounced just a few inches off the ground as soon as Goku's fists rammed up against his stomach, cracking the abdomen section of his armor.

Nappa backed up while doubled over, clutching at his gut. Goku, still concentrated as he used the Kaio-Ken, waited until the giant stumbled over on his knees. The extra bit of energy Goku travelled into his fist as he used the Kaio-Ken knocked all the wind out of the big man. Nappa's mouth was wide and he tried to breathe, but no sounds came.

"Now." Not as much as building up to a climax, Goku kicked Nappa across the face in swift fashion. This time he made sure that he was knocked down.

"Jesus…" Tien said. "Why the heck are we even here if Goku's going to do it all by himself!?"

Piccolo just growled. He couldn't believe the amount of strength that resonated from him. He was more than ten times his own power when he used the technique. How in the hell was he ever supposed to catch up to that? How was he going to surpass him if he were to just master the technique and use it to even higher extents? Piccolo could just feel his stomach churning upside down. It was unbearable to watch.

Looking back over to Vegeta, Goku spoke.

"I'm giving you one chance to collect your friend over there and go back to where you came from."

Vegeta defiantly crossed his arms with his head held high. The attempt to intimidate him and send him back with his tail between his legs was all but successful. "And I'm giving you one chance to quit while you're ahead and to just show me where the Dragon Balls are."

"Not happening."

Vegeta shrugged. "If I don't get what I want, you don't get what you want."

"You think I'll fall for anything that comes out ya mouth?" Goku asked. "That Raditz guy already tried it with me. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I ain't fallin for nothin' from you anymore, at all! The last time, it cost me my life."

"And luckily for you, you came back from the dead stronger than you ever thought you'd be in your wildest dreams. Maybe some good would come out of this for you as well."

"Unlikely," Goku said.

Vegeta uncrossed his arms. Briefly, he looked over to everyone else. Of course they were waiting for any opportunity to get at him and beat him when they had a wide opening, but Vegeta wasn't going to let that happen.

"Any of these clowns get in the way and I kill them on the spot."

"Let's go somewhere else and fight, then."

Vegeta scoffed. Given what he had to do in his time frame, he didn't want to waste much more. Instead of answering verbally, Vegeta showed Goku his thoughts of leaving by charging for him.

Goku, thinking on his feet, powered up to his Kaio-Ken in an effort to block Vegeta's punch. It was blocked successfully and so were the next few attacks. Eventually, the two of them were relocated their ensuing battle into the skies as tensions rose.

Vegeta was barely trying as Goku was using his Kaio-Ken.

"See, Kakarot. You and I may come from the same race." Ducking under Goku's punch, he struck back with a solid fist to the nose and a left hook prior to kicking Goku clean in the stomach, knocking the technique right out of him. As he stood hunched over, Vegeta raised both fists. "But you could NEVER amount to me!"

A solid bash to the top of the head sent Goku sailing down. He crashed on his back, but flipped over onto his two feet. Upon coughing up a bit of blood, he wiped his lip with a smile.

"You're holding back, aren't you?"

"And what if I am? You're not worth my full effort."

Goku couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh yeah?" With all the time he had on King Kai's world, Goku was allowed to hone the Kaio-Ken technique just a tad bit more to be able to get used to his strain just a few days before it was time to leave. He focused more on that than increasing his actual battle-power prior to being wished back to life. "We'll see about that."

Crouching down, Goku began to concentrate his power. His muscles began to bulge and veins that weren't seen in his arms and biceps started to appear.

Slowly, his power was starting to rise, now much more dramatically than before.

Vegeta could feel it.

"This power…"

Goku's friends were star struck at the amount of energy radiating from Goku's body. For him to put out so much more energy than his normal barriers would allow him to showed that such wasn't a simple task. Smoldering heat was coming off him as he powered up.

Vegeta braced himself. As Goku powered up, the Saiyan prince ignited his aura as well.

"Kaio-Ken times three!"

Like a fiery bullet, Goku chased for his opponent.

Vegeta awaited for Goku to come at him, but misdirection from the Earth-raised Saiyan was used as he shot around Vegeta and higher up into the sky. Using his speed to avoid a ball of ki from Vegeta, he came right back down. Vegeta blocked the incoming kick, albeit it had enough force to send him back.

Using this variation of Kaio-Ken meant that Goku couldn't hold anything back from this point forward, and that he had to make an attempt to end the fight as quickly as possible.

He continued his assault and Vegeta remained on the defensive. After a while of blocking and smacking away Goku's hits, Vegeta started to go on the offensive as well, but the two were fighting blow for blow with no punches pulled, punching and kicking as fast and as hard as their bodies would allow them to.

" _How is this even remotely possible? Scum like him being able to go toe to toe with me is ludicrous!"_

Vegeta ducked under a kick and retaliated, only for Goku to avoid his failed attempt at a swipe. Their elbows clashed and they remained in a struggle. The pure look of determination in their eyes as they held one another at bay didn't go unnoticed by either fighters.

"This little technique of yours won't last as long as you believe it will, Kakarot!"

Goku just hissed. The burning sensation all over his body was enough to make him feel like he was 100 feet from being submerged into a pool of scorching lava. He didn't have time to talk.

Goku drove the hardest part of his forehead into Vegeta's nose and followed by driving his fist into the Saiyan's gut as well. Vegeta doubled over but blocked the incoming kick with his forearm prior to wrapping his tail around Goku's leg to reel him in closer into his fist.

Goku was driven away by the punch but came back with a solid one of his own. Their aerial fight continued to traverse in various other sections of the proximity in which they fought. None of those observing from down below were able to even keep up.

"They're fighting way too fast," Tien said.

"We're nothing but dead space here," Krillin said, speaking his thoughts aloud.

"We're only dead space if we don't do anything." Piccolo looked over his shoulder to where the unconscious Nappa lied. "If we can take care of the one over there while his boss is distracted, then we'll have one less problem to worry about."

"Now that's good thinking," Yamcha complimented. Being the most eager to take care of Nappa, he ascended off the ground. "All we have to do is charge up our attacks as much as possible and fire at the exact same time. You guys with me?"

"Oh, you bet!" Krillin met Yamcha's altitude, hovering alongside him. Raising his hands into the air, he began to charge a razor disk "Let's get this over with!"

Tien, Piccolo, and Chaotzu joined Krillin and Yamcha, each individually charging their signature attacks. All of them had their eyes on Nappa, who appeared to still be on the ground.

As the seconds passed, Goku and Vegeta continued to fight at a stalemate. The intense energy that pulsated throughout the air resonated with Nappa as he rested, which did get him to wake up, albeit his head was pounding.

Just moving his head over to look where he could feel more power, he spotted five individuals all preparing to end him at a moment's notice. Once he realized what was going on, his mind began to race.

The spot in which Nappa was in had been blown up to smithereens. A giant, gaping hole lied in the middle of the battle-field. Goku and Vegeta were so focused on one another at this point that they hadn't even noticed. It would take something much more drastic to catch their attention.

And it was going to come very soon.

All of them took in deep breaths as they looked on.

"You think we got him?" Yamcha asked. "I can't feel anything coming from there at all."

Piccolo smirked. "Well, if you can't feel anything, then I suppose the job's done, isn't it?"

"Good point. Now all we have to do is worry about the other gu-!"

Yamcha froze. None turned to ask them what was wrong; feeling the big spike in power just right behind them coming from the bald Saiyan was enough to send them all in a state of shock. The tip of Nappa's boot crashed Yamcha's skull. A loud crack was heard from the very strike. Not even a second after Yamcha's head got bashed in, he grabbed both Tien and Chaotzu to ram their faces together before throwing them down like trash and reducing the two of them to ashes.

Piccolo and Krillin both flew away as fast as they could. Nappa just watched them scatter off for temporary safety.

The sudden drop in power made Goku's heart skip a couple beats. A solid coldness came over his body. Just being distracted temporarily was enough for Vegeta to see an opening. A stomach-churning gut-check knocked Goku out of his Kaio-Ken state. Vegeta didn't let up as he started his own form of aerial assault by mercilessly punching Goku in the face.

Without the Kaio-Ken, Goku couldn't compare to Vegeta's power. And Vegeta was going to make sure he didn't allow him to use it again. After motioning behind Goku, Vegeta kneed him in the spine and blasted his back at point-blank range. The attack had Goku crashing into the ground below.

Krillin and Piccolo were shivering at just how fast three of their allies had been made dead. What just happened to them could happen to them at literally any movement by two different people. That in itself scared the living shit out of them.

Nappa relished the absolute look of horror on their faces. Licking at the dried up blood on his lip, the sadistic beast beamed with animalistic delight. "Now, I have to keep the Namekian alive." Nappa then rushed for Krillin. "But it doesn't mean I have to let you live!"

Out in the distance, Goku witnessed Nappa go after Krillin. "N-NO!" He began to flare up his Kaio-Ken, but Vegeta came flying down to force both of his feet into the top of Goku's head as brutally as possible. Goku's face had made a rather sizable hole in the dirt. His screams of pain and despair once he felt Krillin's chi vanish was unlike any pain he had ever felt before at this point. His friend had died once already, and the fact that he was dead again enraged him.

Alas, he didn't have the time to process this since Vegeta wouldn't let him. Wrapping his tail around Goku's throat, Vegeta lifted Goku off the ground and had his feet dangling as he remained with a tightened grip.

"Now this…this will be fun."

Nappa's facial expression was the exact opposite of Piccolo's while they watched Vegeta torment Goku.

The Earth-raised Saiyan couldn't stop screaming out in pain to the heavens every time Vegeta drove his fist into his back.

"How does it feel, Kakarot!?" Vegeta punched Goku in his spine. "Don't tell me you thought you were actually going to defeat me!" The yells made him laugh out loud. "TRASH!" He was loving every second of it. "This ought to teach you that you made the worst decision of your life standing up to me!"

Vegeta started to treat Goku's body as if it was solely made to be a punching bag. Using his tail to move Goku around was what he did as he incessantly drove his fists into the man's stomach, sides, back, and face. He didn't leave many parts of the body unmarked. After a few minutes of this, Goku couldn't do as much as scream anymore. His body was going numb just as Vegeta was starting to get bored of him.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Nappa asked Piccolo.

The reincarnation of a once great Demon King had been reduced to nothing but mere child's play by much more powerful, scarier, and callous individuals than his father could have ever hoped to be. Piccolo's eyes were watching Goku being tortured, but his mind was overloaded to the point that he could no longer internalize his reality around him. And even though Nappa's words reached one ear, it went straight out the other.

Nappa laughed. "Don't worry. You won't die." Not even a tenth of a second later, Nappa elbowed Piccolo in the side of the neck, paralyzing and knocking the Namekian out on impact. After he crashed down with a loud thud, Nappa crossed his arms. "Not yet anyway."

All the bones inside Goku's body felt like mush. There was no point in continuously torturing Goku anymore since he could no longer provoke any reactions of physical pain. All Vegeta could do was stare on in pity as the lower-class lied down, defeated.

"Such a shame, truly." He stuck his hands down at Goku. "Any last words, Kakarot? Or are you too weak to even speak?"

It hurt just to breathe, but Goku would do anything at this point to make sure the rest of the people who he cared about at least had a chance to live. The feeling of death felt good to him every time he opened his mouth, but he kept on for the sake of his home - for the sake of his family and friends.

"P-Please…" Goku managed to spit out. "D-Don't do this…I-I'll help you g-get the Dragon b-balls...j-just spare e-everyone. Y-you c-can even k-kill me...j-just...l-leave them b-be..."

"Oh?" Vegeta crossed his arms. "So it just took your friends dying for you to want to help us, huh? Why, I should have done that sooner myself, eh, Nappa?"

"Yeah, truer words ain't been spoken since we've gotten here."

"W-We have a r-radar...m-me...a-and m-my other f-friends...w-we can s-show you, but…" Goku started to cough up blood. "I-It'll only t-take a year t-to reactive the Dragon balls b-because...ugh!" Goku spat out more blood. "w-we've already u-used them to bring m-me b-back to life...uck!"

Goku continued to ramble on, struggling to convince Vegeta that they had tools and resources to help Vegeta get what he wanted, but Vegeta was only listening with a smile. He had already made up his mind as to whether or not he was going to kill Goku the moment that he made the decision to go to Earth.

But the more Goku talked, the more he dug his own hole. As he tried to keep Vegeta focused on his words, the Saiyan's eyes examined his movements. He could see that Goku's hands had been moving, slowly but surely. Upon reaching into his waist area, Goku pulled out a little pouch. As he coughed, he began to reach his hand to his mouth.

Vegeta's foot came crashing down on Goku's wrist, eliciting a pained yelp. The green bean he had in his hand came rolling out, as well as the others from the pouch that he possessed. Vegeta picked it up with his tail and examined it. "Just what in the hell is this, huh? Some last resort?"

Goku didn't speak.

Vegeta kicked Goku across the face in hopes of getting a response. "Answer me, trash! What is this!?"

But Vegeta was put off as he sensed an incoming energy.

"You feel that, Vegeta!?"

Vegeta smiled. "Well, well, one more wants to join the fight, don't they?" Vegeta grabbed Goku by the collar and picked him up near his face. "Would that by any chance happen to be your son?" Goku didn't respond; he instead looked on with shivering eyes and a pained, sorrowful expression. The tears forming in Goku's eyes disgusted Vegeta. He head butted Goku to render him unconscious. "Pathetic."

Placing his attention on the power coming, Son Gohan, Goku's only child at the time, came rushing right for Vegeta.

Nappa came right between the two, smiling. "Not so fast, chump!"

The five-year old's tiny figure was surrounded by a aura ten times the size of his body. The strong force of energy coming from Gohan earlier was something that Nappa felt he could handle easily, but the sight of his beat down father and Piccolo pushed Gohan over the edge. **"GET OUT OF MY WAYYY!"**

Gohan's fist coming across cheek made the Saiyan Nappa look like his entire face was being reduced to mashed potatoes. Nappa was sent sailing, but Gohan didn't stop there. He flew under the big Saiyan and continuously rammed his tiny fists all over Nappa's back before punting him upward. Subsequent to appearing above Nappa, Gohan charged a large sum of energy into one strike.

**"MASENKO!"**

Nappa didn't even have the time to block. Gohan's blast sent him crashing down into the ground as hard as possible. A large explosion followed by smoke came, but that didn't deter the young warrior. He came flying through, coming for Vegeta next.

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY DADDY ANY MORE!"

Vegeta was punched across the face a couple of times before he could gather his bearings and start going toe to toe with this raging child.

" _Incredible...such power from such a young Saiyan child? Are their emotions that strong!?"_

Gohan swiped Vegeta off his feet. Vegeta caught himself on the ground by placing his hands atop the dry land prior to kicking at Gohan, who swatted away his foot and punting Vegeta in the face. The Saiyan prince did a few backflips to get back on track, but Gohan was on him like flies on shit.

Vegeta was rendered a myriad of punches to the gut and a kick to the face. From then on, Gohan fired off tens of thousands of ki attacks at once, pouring all his energy into dealing as much damage as possible to the man who was hurting his father so much.

Tears were falling down the five year old's face as he continued to push out an excess amount of power by the second. Back home, he could feel his daddy's power plummeting, and the fact of knowing his dad was on the verge of death wasn't something he took easily. Despite his mom trying to stop him, he left anyway. He wasn't going to let the bad guys continue to hurt his dad. He couldn't. Son Gohan would rather die than to have to witness his dad or Mr. Piccolo be sent to the afterlife.

Only holding his last bit of reserves for chi, Gohan raised both his hands above his head, forming two big balls of energy five times the size of his head. He brought his hands together to combine the size of the attack and fired off a large wave of ki ten feet taller than Vegeta's height.

Vegeta watched as the light came over to him. The bright rays coming from the sun as it started to set down was replaced by Gohan's unbelievable wave of energy. Vegeta was engulfed by the attack.

As the bright light was over his body, Vegeta remained with his eyes shut. It was hard to stand. The thought of allowing himself to fall over and take the entire brunt force of the attack with a decent chance of survival came to mind, but he couldn't let some half breed spawn of a lower-class warrior obtain such satisfaction.

The scorching heat from Gohan's enraged attack had Vegeta's body armor and fabric tearing, breaking to pieces bit by bit. Slowly, Vegeta raised one foot and continued to take more steps ahead.

Him walking through this unbearable heat had Vegeta questioning if he had been doing this for hours; it was getting to a point where he was starting to want to just fall down on his face already. " _How much energy does this damn brat have!?"_

Gohan was pouring his very all into this attack, hoping - just hoping that Vegeta would be dead and gone by the time he was done.

And though he dealt a greater sum of damage than Vegeta himself expected, it still wasn't enough to kill the prince of all Saiyans.

Once Gohan couldn't pour any more energy out, the boy fell to his knees. Vegeta's shadow blocked the sun as he towered over Gohan. His shoulder plates disintegrated. Pieces of fabric that made up the entirety of his battle suit were ripped and showed pieces of burnt marks on Vegeta's body, as well as blood.

Vegeta's eyes were shaking with pure rage.

Without mercy, Vegeta crushed Gohan's stomach with his fist. As he was lifted off the ground, Vegeta grabbed Gohan by the back of his shirt and slammed the boy down face first. He kicked the kid away, grabbed him by his tail, and drove his knee into Gohan's face, effectively shattering his nose. Blood came from the boy's mouth and nose as he fell down on top of his father's unmoving body.

Vegeta's body was shaking in not only anger, but pain. The amount of energy Gohan produced from sheer rage alone would have been enough power to take Vegeta out any time prior to his mission on Yardrat. The man was lucky, for if he wasn't as strong as he currently was, then he'd be a goner for sure.

Looking over his shoulder, he could see Nappa rubbing his face in pain, groaning as he did.

"Get the hell up!" Vegeta barked.

Doing as told, Nappa slowly got up. After falling down subsequent to making two consecutive attempts at getting on his feet, he did his best to maintain his balance as his legs wobbled. He spat out a tooth from the back of his mouth and cracked his neck, almost falling over again. "W-was that Kakarot's brat!?"

Vegeta averted his attention back to Goku and Gohan, both of whom were huffing and puffing as they had their backs on the grounds of their final resting place. The Saiyan elite's eyes glowed a bright color as he fired off a beam at the two of them, making sure that they weren't coming back. The sight of them holding their hands mere moments before they had been killed was so revolting that Vegeta felt the urge to vomit. Either it was that or the kid did more damage to him than he was willing to take credit for.

"Indeed. That was he."

"By the three Kings of Planet Vegeta…" Nappa mumbled. "I knew that half-breeds had potential, but that much? Such power at such a young age! He could have been a Super Saiyan, Vegeta!"

"Could have doesn't mean jack now that he and his weakling father are dead." Raising one of the Senzus that he took from Goku, Vegeta decided to toss it over to Nappa. "Take one of these."

Nappa fell down to one knee after he juggled the bean before he managed to catch it. His vision was insanely blurry, but he was able to make out what it was. "W-What is this for?"

Vegeta shrugged. "Kakarot was trying to distract me as he reached for it. I don't know what it is, but he was going to try and eat it as a last resort. You're going to be my guinea pig and see what it does."

Nappa looked up to Vegeta, then back to the Senzu. He knew Vegeta wouldn't purposely try to harm him, but to take something he didn't know anything about made him question eating it, especially considering the fact that he was being ordered to consume an unknown bean.

"What's taking so long, Nappa? Nervous?"

"O-Of course not…" Nappa gulped. "Here goes nothin'." He plucked the bean into his mouth and began to chew on it. It was very crunchy and had a taste more bland than anything he had ever consumed in his life.

But it didn't mean that the effects weren't good.

From the very moment the bean was consumed, Nappa stood right back up on his two feet. The marks on his body healed and his face looked almost as good as new.

"HOOOOOLYYYY MOTHER OF GOD!"

"Well, well, well…" Vegeta grabbed at another Senzu and looked upon it. "Just when you thought there wasn't anything that could beat the healing capabilities of a rejuvenation chamber, we stumble upon one of these little things." He decided to munch on one for himself.

"And on this backwater planet of all places!" Nappa flexed his muscles. "I feel replenished in absolutely every way, Vegeta! Who needs Dragon Balls when we can use this for the rest of our lives!"

"Now, now…" Vegeta put the bean into the pouch and the pouch inside his chest plate. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We're still going to get our immortality, since I don't see any other way we can get Freeza out of our way and keep half-breeds as strong as Kakarot's brat at bay."

"Good point." Looking around the area, Nappa asked, "Now what?"

"Well, I say we meet more of Kakarot's friends. I can sense more powers coming our way, albeit far inferior than the ones we've just fought. I have to assume it's the rest of Kakarot's little weak brigade."

"So why wait on them when we can just kill 'em?"

"Who said anything about waiting? You keep your eyes on the Namekian. As for myself...I will be back shortly."

* * *

"Just please tell me my little boy's okay...just please."

Once Son Gohan took it upon himself to leave home in hopes of helping his father, Chi-Chi was quick to follow. She didn't want her little boy going anywhere near a battle-field in fear that she'd lose him. Her maternal instincts had taken over her rationale so much that she hadn't realized the same emotions she felt in order to follow her son were the exact same emotions that compelled Gohan to protect his father. In support, Bulma, Roshi, Turtle, Gyumao, Oolong, Puar, and even Korin came to see if everything would be okay. Every single one of these people loved Goku more than most things in the world, so to lose him would be a big loss.

It wasn't as if Chi-Chi or Bulma were aware of what happened, as only Roshi, and Korin knew what transpired and what was soon to come: their deaths. They tried to explain that entering this battle-zone would be dangerous, but Chi-Chi didn't care. If her little boy's life happened to be on the line, she wasn't going to listen to anyone. Roshi and the others weren't going to let her go alone either despite what it meant for all of them. If they were to die, they'd look death right in the eye instead of cowering and waiting for the inevitable.

"If he's anything like his dad, he will be fine, Chi-Chi."

Bulma was in control of the flight of the giant aircraft they rode in after convincing Chi-Chi to just sit on the passenger side as emotional driving wasn't something that they needed to take a risk with at the moment. As much as she wanted to comfort and console Chi-Chi in order to help her relax her nerves, she had to focus on her driving. Gyumao did what he could to assuage her feelings of desperation, but Chi-Chi couldn't stop crying. She just had a feeling - a horrible feeling.

Roshi and Korin hadn't said a single word since they jumped aboard with them.

The aircraft of which Bulma flew started to move out of her control. The young woman steered the wheel one way, but it was going in an entirely different direction.

"Just what in the hell is going on now!?" Oolong asked. It was just then that the aircraft began to go much faster than anyone could even comprehend, which knocked them all over and into the back, save for Roshi and Korin, both of whom kept their balance.

"Danger."

Roshi threw his cane down and opened the door. Once he exited, the old turtle hermit hopped out and kicked the door closed in the process as he had his hands cupped. Charging his attack as he started to descend down, he looked on to spot the man that killed Goku himself. Vegeta was directing the aircraft toward his location at will by pushing it from behind.

Roshi had only one expectation when it came to an attack like this, but he was willing to try anything at this point. He bet on the smallest, near impossible chance of defeating Vegeta by charging an attack. He knew what the likely result would be, but it wasn't as if he hadn't faced death before. "KAME...HAME…."

Vegeta didn't waste time with the old man and sent him to oblivion with a mere ball of chi. He didn't worry himself with any remaining weaklings on the planet. As far as he was concerned, he already took care of the best of the best that Earth had to offer. Now it was all strictly business from here on out. No more fun.

And without any care in the world, Vegeta came landing down on land with the aircraft being tossed over just a few seconds before he touched down. Nappa was sitting on top of Piccolo's back, keeping himself occupied in his head until Vegeta arrived.

Confused, he asked, "What's that?"

Vegeta blasted a hole through the door and walked in. Seconds later, seven people were all tossed out of the ship and onto the ground.

"More pests is what it is," Vegeta answered as he stepped back out.

All of them crawled away from Vegeta except for Turtle, who just hid inside his shell like the coward that Vegeta expected him to be.

Korin licked at his ruffled fur while getting back on his feet. "So it's you who killed them…"

Chi-Chi's head jerked up so fast that it was a wonder how she didn't snap her own neck. "KILLED!? KILLED WHO!?"

"Everyone," Vegeta told her. "Your precious little Goku, and his friends…" he then smirked. "Even that little brat. A true waste of potential but that'll be rectified soon enough!"

Chi-Chi started to hyperventilate. Sure, he couldn't be referring to Gohan, could he? She already went through it horribly before, grieving the sudden and unexpected death of her husband, but now her husband and son? It couldn't be.

"No, not my Gohan! He couldn't! You wouldn't!" Chi-Chi ran off and started to look all over, just hoping and praying that she'd be able to find some sign that her baby boy was still alive. That was the only reason she came in the first place. Everyone watched as the panicked woman with tears falling down her face, searched frantically for her son, but to no avail.

"Don't bother wasting your time." Vegeta pointed a few yards away from Chi-Chi. "Their ashes are over there."

The woman slowly approached where Vegeta had his fingers pointed to. The closer she got, the harder her heart started to beat. By the moment she saw mere pieces of fabric from Goku and Gohan's gi, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fainted.

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Nappa laughed out loud. "Don't tell me she just broke! No way!"

"What else could you possibly expect from a race of weaklings?" Vegeta chuckled.

"So why not just kill us and get it over with, huh?" Oolong asked. This was perhaps the bravest thing Oolong has ever did or said since he wished for a pair of panties all those years ago in effort to save the world from being ruled by some under-grown man child. He was sweating bullets and his heart beat was pounding against his chest like a madman locked in a solitary cell. The body shaking was a key indicator for Vegeta that he was scared out of his mind and he was just all talk. He knew damn well that the pig didn't want to die, but chances were that this was his inevitable fate.

"Because I may have some use for you. Now, please do tell me two things." Vegeta lifted a Senzu. "The one who makes these...raise your hand." Everyone looked at one another before the man who did make Senzus answered. Slowly, but surely, they started to realize what was going on; Vegeta was seeing who could prove themselves most useful to him and more than likely kill the rest. Korin did as told and raised his hand, albeit reluctantly. "Good. Now, who is the person here who can make a radar for Dragon Balls?"

Bulma was far too much in a state of shock to raise her hand. Korin had to do it for her.

"Very well, then." Vegeta glanced at Oolong, Gyumao, Turtle, and Puar. "Looks like I have no use for you three, then."

Within the blink of an eye, all three of them had imploded and exploded due to a simple gesture from Vegeta's hand. The bloods, bone, and guts that came from each of them had Bulma shaking and breathing uncontrollably. It got to a point where she couldn't take it anymore and just passed out like Chi-Chi did earlier.

Korin gulped down hard as he kept his mouth sealed tightly. Turtle's shell was vibrating like a phone left on the counter ringing did. He knew what had happened. His usefulness to the Saiyans was just as equal to what Oolong, Puar, and Gyumao had, but he wasn't killed? Crying in silence, Turtle was internally wailing at the high chance of him being reduced to a food source for them. The blood and pieces of brain and bone and tissue all felt as if they tainted the very fur on Korin's body. He had never felt so violated before, but what was he to do?

"Now that was a nice one," Nappa said, overly amused at the sight of innocent people being executed right in front of the Earthlings.

"You can keep an eye on them, too," Vegeta told Nappa, referring to Bulma and Chi-Chi. "Mr. Whiskers and I will be taking a little trip."

"Well, ya know where I'll be at, Vegeta. See ya soon."

Korin was yanked by the back of his head as Vegeta took off into the sky. "Now, you'll show me where and how you manufacture these things."

* * *

Korin, having no other choice at this point, guided Vegeta to his tower and showed him the process of making Senzu beans. The amount of time it took to go over the process wasn't long, though it was long enough for the sun to go down and for the stars to shine bright over skies.

Closing a jar full of dirt, Korin looked over his shoulder at the Saiyan. Vegeta observed everything Korin did to a tee and captured a mental image in his head based off every single action he took and made sure to pay close attention to every word that he spoke as instructions.

"The process is short and simple but the progress is insanely slow."

Vegeta nodded, having understood all that was told to him. "So, that's it then, is it?"

"Yes," Korin nodded.

"Here's my gratitude for your service."

Korin had a hole shaped right through his stomach thanks to the cruel, heartless Saiyan. Mouth agape as his bloody claws scratched at the hole, the bloodied white cat was in absolute disbelief that he could be rid of so easily, just holding on to the small chance that he'd be spared by teaching Vegeta the ins and outs of growing Senzu beans. The cat backed up and inevitably fell over the railing of his own tower, falling for hundreds upon hundreds of meters before the landing was to crush every single bone in his body.

Vegeta walked over to the railing as he rubbed one of the Senzus between his fingers. It was almost unbelievable at this point. In just a year, Vegeta's power had jumped high enough to surpass that of Cui, Dodoria, and Zarbon. He learned to suppress his own power and detect the power of other individuals. He learned of the Dragon Balls. The opportunity for an eternal legacy that could never be surpassed by anyone was just too enticing to let slip away. So many things could go wrong and while it played in the back of his mind, what kept him going was all the things that could go right. Gaining immortality meant that Freeza would no longer be in the picture. Reproducing with the Earthling women meant that the potential of his offspring and the neo Saiyan race would consist of a myriad of Super Saiyan soldiers, and he'd be leading all of them to glory and incessant battle. The pride of his family watching him down in hell was what kept Vegeta going. He was going to make sure his name was known across the cosmos by the time he was finished.

_"Nobody will be able to stop me. Not even Freeza."_

"All the senseless murdering you've been doing will catch up to you in the end."

Almost startled, Vegeta quickly turned around. The Saiyan didn't sense anyone's ki approaching him, though he understood why immeidatly once he got a good look at this stranger. He, like Piccolo, was a Namekian, though much older in comparison. It was Kami, the Guardian of Earth.

"Another one of you? I guess you're the other one's father, aren't you?"

"Yes," Kami lied. "He may have created the Dragon Balls, but I'll be the one to kill you."

"Ah, so you're the Namekian to thank for giving birth to the Namekian to create the Dragon Balls." He raised his hand to Kami. "I'll be sure to enjoy this." Not thinking, Vegeta gave Kami the exact same that he gave Korin, blasting him through the chest. Kami fell over on his back against the railing, coughing up blood. As he wheezed on, trying to catch his breath, Vegeta laughed at him. "You should have stayed where you were weakling. Those Dragon Balls are mine."

"B-but I won't let you," Kami told him, chuckling softly as he coughed up blood. "T-they're not to be u-used for evil d-deeds."

"If they're created to be used, then they're supposed to be used, regardless of if it's for good or evil, as you put it."

"I-I...am... this p-lanet's Guardian. I'm going to e-ensure its s-safety."

"Guardian!?" Vegeta cocked his head back and started to bust out laughing. "GUARDIAN!?" He started to laugh even louder. "NO, NO!" The Saiyan was laughing so hard that tears began to form in his eyes. "YOU!?" he screamed, pointing at Kami. "BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kami stared at Vegeta as he had the laugh of his life. "Y-you won't be laughing soon, you despicable, insignificant, lunatic." Kami's body began to shake as a golden aura overcame his body. "As Guardian of Earth, it is my duty to oversee everything that goes on. Things have gotten too far out of hand and it's now my duty to protect it. YOU DIE HERE AND SO DOES YOUR DREAMS OF OBTAINING THE DRAGON BALLS! YOU'RE THE REAL FOOL FOR BELIEVING THAT A FIGHTING NAMEKIAN COULD CREATE SUCH BEAUTY! PERISH!"

Well aware of what he was doing, Vegeta could feel the intense pressure of energy building up from inside the old Namekian. Sure, he was old, but he knew when he felt real power. All Vegeta could do was think quick on his feet as he grabbed the jar Korin showed him and hopped from the tower, which exploded.

The impact was enough to send Vegeta crashing down hard as he held onto the jar of soil. He was in a big crater just on the outskirts of Korin's sacred land. Coughing up dirt, Vegeta rolled over on his back, breathing heavily.

" _These bastards just keep coming out with one thing after the other."_ Unfortunately, the jar was broken and all the soil wasted, but the realization of Kami's actions caused Vegeta's eyes to pop open. Those last words that came from his mouth, speaking of no longer being able to get his wish, as well as admitting to having lied. It didn't make sense to him at all why he'd say that...unless...

_"NO!"_

* * *

Nappa was looking dumbfounded after having fallen on his ass while eating the turtle that Vegeta left behind. The big, bald Saiyan was rubbing his head, bewildered at the fact that it was now just him and the two Earthling women, both of whom had been knocked out for at least an hour now.

Not one second after he got on his feet to to sit on the turtle's shell, Vegeta came crashing down in the vicinity with so much force that Nappa fell over again.

"AH, what the hell!?"

Vegeta, grinding his teeth, looked over to Nappa. "Where is the Namekian that was here!?"

"I-I don't know!" Nappa responded quickly. "I swear to you Vegeta, he just disappeared - no clue what happened to him!"

Vegeta's tail lashed from side to side out of frustration. " _So he was - he was the creator and he wasn't his father."_ In Vegeta's eyes, if one dying meant the other did as well, there was only one explanation. _"They're_ _linked to each other! One dies meaning so does the other, which also means no more Dragon Balls!"_ Vegeta then took a deep breath. " _Well, no more **Earth** Dragon Balls..."_

Still, the fact that he was lied to and couldn't even read the trickery from the beginning angered him. It all made sense as to why that rancid green slug was so willing to allow Vegeta to kill him. Unbeknownst to the Saiyan, a God couldn't kill themselves, so by allowing Vegeta to give him the blow needed to keel over and die, Kami unleashed whatever energy he had left into one grandiose burst. Smart and wise he may have been, but a failure of a Guardian he was indeed.

"Any idea what happened?" Vegeta's loyal subordinate inquired.

"Change of plans," Vegeta told Nappa as he tried to maintain his cool. "We will have to use the Dragon Balls from Planet Namek. Sure enough if a Namekian from here was able to create one, then the ones from that world more than likely have them as well."

"Wait, why?"

"The real creator of the Dragon Balls tried to bait me," Vegeta explained. "And as you can see, he was linked to the other one, which is why he vanished. But it doesn't matter anyway since we will just have to find a way to convince Freeza to head over to Planet Namek. By now, he's probably watching our every move."

"Oh." Nappa got up and dusted himself off. "We still have the other turncoat found by Freeza to deal with first, though."

"Don't have your mind set on that right now. We still have business HERE to take care of."

"True. So what do we do now?"

Vegeta looked at Chi-Chi, Bulma, then Nappa. The bald Saiyan already knew what Vegeta was getting at before he even opened his mouth.

"I say it's about time we set up our little situation here on Earth."


	4. Direct Depopulation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the defeat of Earth's strongest defense, Vegeta takes it upon himself to start forming a plan to gather the Earthling women; but before they gather them, Nappa is sent with the task of weeding out the women of Planet Earth. Once finished, they have to go and face off against the surviving Saiyan Freeza informed them of.

West City was soon to look more like death city as the Saiyans approached the most populated metropolitan of the entire globe. Nappa carried an unconscious Chi-Chi and a flustered and daunted Bulma. Bulma's responses to showing Vegeta where to go was brief, soft, and barely audible. After what she witnessed, it was a wonder as to how she could tolerate being in the world of the living. Once they all made it to West City, Vegeta and Nappa stopped and hovered over the area. By now, the Samaritans of all major cities and even certain small towns had heard about what happened to East City, though none were able to figure out exactly how. Because of the unprecedented circumstances, everything was made to shut down. The people who lived in East City locked their homes and closed off their residences of business since they were told to stay put until further notice. There was a great amount of military patrol on land in the area to ensure everyone was safe. Not thinking that the threat that erased East City would turn out to be real people, none decided to be on air patrol.

Because of their lack of diligence, the presence of Vegeta and Nappa went unnoticed until they touched down in Capsule Corp's front yard. There were a plethora of cop cars and other military on patrol as they aimed to provide a heavy set of protection for the richest man on the planet. Once they caught sight of the Saiyans, the cops all looked on in amazement. Having to hold their shock at the fact that these people were flying, a dozen men approached the Saiyans with weapons in their hands. Some had pistols, but most had automatic guns.

"You four have to stop you right there!"

Vegeta's ears picked up the warning, but his actions show just how much he cared. The Saiyan raised his fingers and blew holes through their hearts before any of them could take another breath. One of the people observing in the back was quick to grab his walkie talkie and alert all the others in the area; tt wasn't even a full ten seconds before more patrol cars started to arrive at the scene.

"Go take care of them, Nappa. Be sure to take care of all the men in the area and everywhere else you can find. Spare the women you find robust and kill the rest."

At this point in time, Vegeta had a general idea of what it was that he wanted to do with the surviving Earth women. He just needed to figure out how he'd keep them hidden from any associates of Freeza's empire to assess the value of this planet. Nappa was already on the same page as Vegeta and made sure he did everything he was told to a tee.

"Heh! I'm on it!"

Bulma and Chi-Chi were both dropped to the ground before Nappa shot off to tend to the soldiers and policemen around them.

Vegeta picked up Chi-Chi by the back of her shirt and looked down on Bulma, who was far too mentally sunk to realize that the Saiyan was growing impatient with her. While on her knees with her eyes closed, Bulma's attempts of tuning out everything in her surroundings was an utter failure as the terrifying screams of the people being butchered by Nappa made it to her ears. She couldn't bring herself to even look as her imagination was already bad enough.

"Get up," Vegeta told her. "We still have business to take care of."

Even with no physical harm having been done to her, Bulma got up slowly as if she had been beaten like Vegeta had been beating on Goku. Her wobbly legs carried her to the front door as she guided Vegeta toward the entrance of her home. The closer she got, the tighter her chest felt. It was as if she was the grim's reapers messenger for her own family. She just hoped that they'd be spared, but the reality of the situation already made it clear enough that she wasn't going to be getting what she wanted any time soon - probably even never.

Bulma tried to open the door with the regular password, but was taken aback at the fact that she still couldn't get in. "I-I'm locked out…"

With the recent danger going on, it did make sense that her parents would have changed the security code for mere caution. She just wish she knew so that she didn't have to alert her parents of the intruder who was forcefully accompanying her.

"Stand aside."

Vegeta blasted the door down using his free hand. The loud commotion brought forth two familiar faces: Panchy and Dr. Briefs, one the creator of Capsule Corp, and the other being his trophy wife; both biological parents to Bulma, where she got her good looks and insanely wicked intelligence from.

The sight of their daughter gave relief to them. Bulma's parents showed a lack of care as to who Vegeta could have been as they both hurried to hug their daughter.

"We were worried sick, honey!" Panchy cried out, squeezing the life out of Bulma. "I'm so glad you're safe!"

Dr. Briefs' cat rubbed his head onto Bulma's sweaty neck, expressing its love for her as well.

"We have no idea if your sister is okay or not," Dr. Briefs told Bulma. "We can't call anybody and we can't pick up anything either!"

"That impact was no meteor," Vegeta told the old man.

"Then what was it?" Panchy asked.

Vegeta grinned. "Me."

Panchy's foot came flying off the floor as she flew right into the wall across her front door in the living room. The bone crushing impact from the back of her head colliding against the wall left a trail of blood as she slid down slowly onto her bottom. The wide eyes, unmoving mouth, and twitching body was the indicative sign that she was dead. Dr. Briefs and Bulma left out a shrieking scream that was like music to the Saiyan's ears. Aiming his hand over to her father, he was just about ready to kill him off as well.

Seeing that Vegeta was planning on killing him as well, Bulma instinctively took action.

**"NO!"**

Bulma stepped in front of her morbidly bemused father with her hands to the side, eyes closed, and tears running down to the very tip of her quivering chin. "P-please," her voice cracked. "Not him, too..."

Dr. Briefs nor his pet cat had any ideas as to what was going on. The sudden realization that his wife was dead hadn't registered completely yet, though he knew that this wasn't some bizarre dream since pinching himself proved to be rather painful. He slowly backed up as his youngest daughter had her body before his in order to protect him. It was usually meant to be the other way around, but Bulma wasn't a woman for traditional roles - her extreme intelligence made that impossible since she was a little girl.

Vegeta adjusted his hand to aim at Dr. Briefs. A little ball of light was radiating at the tip of his fingers. Staring coldly into Bulma's eyes, he told her, "I have no need for any indigenous men on this planet."

"H-He's a scientist like me!" Bulma yelled. She had lost way too many people already. Maybe it would be a punishment to have her father alive in such perilous times, but the one thing she knew was that she couldn't be left alone. She didn't even know if her sister was alive or not so as far as she knew, she only had Dr. Briefs to cling on. Letting him die wasn't an option.

"B-Bulma…" Dr. Briefs spoke to her. "What's going on?" He couldn't keep his eyes off his wife's body. Panchy's heavy head was so far down low that her chin almost went past her chest. He wished that he could just chalk it up to brutal head trauma, but even he was far too smart to make up lies that he so desperately wanted to believe. Voice shaking, he asked once more. "H-honey...?"

Vegeta's ball of energy started to disappear, though not completely. Curious, he prodded on. "A scientist? What does him being a scientist matter to me if you yourself created the Dragon Ball Radar? Surely you can be of enough service on your own."

"He's the smartest man on this planet," Bulma told Vegeta. "I-I promise you he won't get in the way!" Her shrieking voice started to crack. "Just please...spare him."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. He didn't know whether to believe her or not, but when it came to moments of desperation, people resorted to one or two things: blatant lies or transparent truths. He tried to quickly think of a reason for her to lie but couldn't make out any, as there was no lie he could tell her that'd benefit herself at this point. On the flip side, it was very likely that her father was a smart man that could be of great service to him later on down the line. After all, how could someone like her learn to make something to detect Dragon Balls if she didn't have a mentor as she was growing up? Perhaps it was in his own best interest to spare the old man's life.

The Saiyan gave Bulma the benefit of the doubt and lowered his hand. "Alright, then." He looked over to Dr. Briefs. "Why don't you take me to your lab?"

Dr. Briefs still couldn't keep his eyes off Panchy, nor could his cat for that matter. He started to tremble at the sight of her just sitting there in such a horrible way, but Vegeta snapped him out of his world-crumbling trance.

"We don't have time for mourning, old man! Show me the lab. Now!"

Dr. Briefs adjusted the coat that his cat hid inside as well as his glasses. At this point, he realized that Bulma was only trying to protect him by abiding by this man's orders. Not only that, but he instantly managed to connect that this man was one of the Saiyans that were meant to come to Earth. In no world did he expect someone so powerful and heartless to barge in his home in such a manner, but this was now his reality. Seeing no other option to preserve not just his life, but his daughter's, he acquiesced. "Y-Yes. Just...follow me."

"Good." Vegeta smiled.

Vegeta Bulma and Dr. Briefs from behind as he had Chi-Chi's feet and hands dragging on the floors of Capsule Corp while he held her by the fabric of her clothes. The Saiyan's eyes were looking around all over the place as they made turns and took steps to enter different rooms all over the place. At first glance, the home appeared to be any ordinary house, but as they entered and exited different sections, he did come to the conclusion that this was the house of geniuses. The books as well as idle robotic materials he had seen lying around made it quite evident of that fact.

Once they made it inside the working space of Bulma and her father, Vegeta dropped Chi-Chi to the floor and told the other two to take a seat.

Bulma and her father did just as he told them and sat down on metal stools in front of a desk with various pieces of equipment and blueprints.

"Now." Vegeta crossed his arms as he took a soft breath. "These Dragon Ball radars...can they truly detect Dragon Balls?"

Bulma couldn't as much as speak at this point, so her father spoke up for her. "Y-yes, they can. See, my daughter first made them when she was very young and her first few tries came with trial and error but she caught on quickly; she's always been a genius and even worked on shi-"

"I didn't ask about all of that," Vegeta cut the man off. "We'll get to the nuances of your capabilities later. Right now, you tell me what I want to know. Understood?"

"Of course." Dr. Briefs wiped the hot sweat that started to penetrate his eyes.

"Good. Now, old man, you're probably wondering why it is that I'm doing all this. I'll let it be known that I have my reasons, all of which your daughter will explain to you in the distant future. As of now, I need to know something: since the Dragon Balls here no longer work because the Namekians here are dead, could it be possible for the radar to detect Dragon Balls on a different planet?"

"N-Namekians?" he asked. Vegeta's death glare intensified so Dr. Briefs didn't go on to ask what Namekians were and just went along with it. W-well," Dr. Briefs adjusted his glasses and loosened the already sweaty t-shirt underneath his lab coat, unable to take his shuddering eyes off his now dead wife. "T-theoretically, yes." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bulma's body shaking and trembling. Sure enough it wasn't due to the coldness of the room, but the cold-hearted nature from the monster before him. Almost shaken up himself, he coughed and raised his voice a little bit. "If the Dragon Balls there are made of the same material there, then I know they'll work."

"Hm." Vegeta started to think of the possibilities as to how far these two could help him along the way to achieve his goal of immortality. The wide eyes on Dr. Briefs looking behind him alerted Vegeta. The Saiyan could feel movement behind him and turned around. As soon as his head was over his right shoulder, he felt a minor tingling sensation going right up his tailbone.

Chi-Chi had grabbed on to what she was well aware happened to be a Saiyan's critical weak point.

Vegeta couldn't control his laughter. "What a fool you are!"

Chi-Chi was squeezing Vegeta's tail as if her life depended on it. She remembered how when Gohan would cry and throw little fits as a baby that it was so easy for Goku to calm him down by grabbing his tail. Remembering that it was a great weakness of his and his son's, Chi-Chi hoped to subdue this intruder. The thought had came to her from a dream and from it, she needed to make sure that the murderer of her husband and child would pay.

Alas, Chi-Chi didn't take into account that someone of Vegeta's caliber would dispose of such a weakness by being trained to not let his tail get in the way of battle. The light elbow to the face from Vegeta showed just how efficient her improvisational strategy was. Not even ten seconds after she woke up was she sent back into a state of unconsciousness, this time not by shock, but force.

" _A real brave one, that is, Kakarot. I see why you chose her now."_

Pointing at Chi-Chi laid out on the floor, Vegeta spoke of her as an example. "And that's just to let you know that you can't possibly do anything to me without paying for it." Taking a few steps away, he placed his back against the wall, getting comfortable. "And don't worry, she's still alive; that was nothing but a tap."

"S-So what do you want us to do exactly?" Dr. Briefs asked. "I mean, if you need machines...repairs...anything. W-we can provide that."

"I don't need machines or repairs for anything as of this moment." Vegeta walked over to the other side of the table across from them and slammed his hands on the desk, startling Bulma out of her seat. Looking down at them, he said, "I'm going to need you two make a nice, **_undetectable_ _safe haven_** for a hefty group of people."

* * *

"Come on, please...please pick up."

For the past hour and a half, Tights had been trying to get her family back in the city to answer her calls. She tried various different forms of communication as she resided on her island, but nothing came of it. Frustrated, she threw her phone against the wall and huffed. Her frustration was soon replaced by sadness as she buried her face into her hands. The news of what had been going on in West City brought her to a deep state of sadness initially. But the flickering hope that the intelligence of her sister and father could help save them was what kept her trying. However, the failure of being unable to communicate with them made that flickering hope die out.

Living on an island that used to be owned by her late friend, Tukonoshin Omori, before his passing, meant that Tights didn't just have regular policemen on patrol. Her friend that also lived with her, Tagamoro Katayude, was part of the East Sea police official squad, which meant she had them to protect her instead.

She wasn't aware of how serious this sudden threat was until she heard gun fire and screams of agony right outside her home. The sudden noise made Tights fall off her couch and onto the floor. The following shockwaves in the vicinity didn't make it easy for her to get back on her feet, either. The blonde rushed outside to see burning boats that sunk as well as countless floating bodies in the ocean.

The people that were drowning right before her eyes had their hands stretched out, begging for mercy, and pleading for help. The overwhelming tidal waves that came from the fault of their assailant wasn't sparing and engulfed them completely, leaving them to their own horrible fate. The incoming crash wave of water entered Tights' home and had her back ramming into the wall behind her.

Her vision went black, albeit only for a few brief seconds. Seeing stars, she was barely able to make up the arrival of the big man who had taken care of her protectors in mere seconds.

"Don't tell me a bit of water's got you about to die," Nappa joked. Tights' fluttering eyes eventually made out the sinister smile on the bald man's face. Her fight or flight instantly jolted through her body. Unaware of just how powerful he as a single man truly was, Tights jumped up and kicked him right in the balls.

Nappa fell to his knees as he grabbed at his crotch. "Y-you little….urgh! I OUGHT TO KILL YOU!"

Tights ran over to her couch, which was tipped over thanks to the water coming in uninvited. With her little boost in strength from her rush of adrenaline, Tights pulled the drenched couch back over and grabbed at her fallen gun that was hidden underneath a cushion. Subsequent to getting a hold of the weapon, she cocked the pistol, aimed, and started to empty the entire clip.

The bullets bouncing off Nappa's skin felt like miniscule mosquitoes trying to suck at his blood; they were nothing but an aggravation and did nothing but make Nappa want to tear her head off. Still, the tenacity and will to survive from this woman showed him something: she was a potential candidate.

As the gun started to click, the pistol fell out of Tights' tremulous hands. The fear in her eyes brought peace to Nappa's state of mind as the pain in his private area began to subside. Getting back up, he laughed at the woman's powerlessness to inflict pain onto him.

"You got some nerve," Nappa said. Regaining his composure as he let out a deep breath, he stood upright. "Can't say that's a bad thing for you, though." Tights crawled away from Nappa as he started to walk. But the moment his body went through the door, a big feeling of relief came over her. Still, fear was entrapped in her mind as the mere sight of what he alone was capable of couldn't be put away.

Why spare her?

That was the only question she had.

It wasn't a question with an answer that once realized, she'd wish she never wondered in the first place.

Regardless, her future circumstances were now ineluctable.

* * *

A radio placed on the dashboard was smashed to bits with a tiny hammer.

"Nothing but static! This is just stupid!"

It had been hours since the destruction of East City and the massacre in West City. There was no doubt in the minds of the three people in a little car that Piccolo Daimao levels of horror was still being carried out.

"Mai...Pilaf…" the only dog in the group said…"if this is truly the end of the world...then I want you to know that I love you."

"Shut up!" Mai and Pilaf growled at him.

The very thought of this now being the end of the world was something they didn't want to accept. Earth had been in this situation twice already by the man who referred to himself as a demon a while ago. Both of those times he spread horror and each time he ultimately was defeated. In order to cope with the fact that things were inevitably going to shit, they held on to the hope that everything would go back to normal under some miraculous notion.

Diablo desert was where they had been camping. At night, the near unbearable cold forced them to have the heater in the van blasting at full force.

"Look," Pilaf started. "We're going to be okay and get through this. We've survived a lot of things before, remember?"

"But this isn't just some ape destroying our things or a literal demon trying to rule the Earth!" Shuu protested. "We are being wiped out!"

Mai, holding on to her shot gun, sighed. "We won't die. We always survive. Remember that."

Then Shuu started to think about it. In a sense, she had a point. When that little boy Goku all those years ago turned into a rampaging monster, even their bombs couldn't kill him. They really did think they were dead until they managed to escape with their lives. They confront Goku yet again and he spares them despite them trying to rob him of the Dragon Balls. Then Piccolo happened. Now this? Maybe they were right.

Taking a deep breath, Shuu scratched his tail. "I guess you guys are ri-"

He stopped speaking.

Pilaf turned around with a soft smile. "Come on, say it. We know we're right. We always are, aren't we?"

Shuu's nose started to wiggle. "I...do you guys smell that?"

"Smell what?" Mai asked. "You know we don't have as good a nose as you…"

"I-it smells like...dead people?"

Mai and Pilaf looked at one another in the front for a few seconds, then right back at Shuu. They were starting to think that their friend was going crazy.

"You know," Pilaf started, "I really think that you need some therap-!

A banging sound from the top of their vehicle shocked them all. The dent placed on top caused the trio to all sink in their sinks on instinct. Mai, with her shotgun, started to shoot at the top in hopes of getting away of whatever danger had came from above.

Shuu started to tremble. "I-It's him…"

Nappa grabbed the van with the tip of his finger and rose it above his head. As the van tipped over, all three of them started to scream. Pilaf and Soba were yelling at Mai to hold on. Nappa grinned and started to shake the van, forcing one of the three people out.

He then chucked the van up into the air and blew it up with a minuscule amount of energy radiating from the tips of his two fingers.

The reflection from Mai's eyes dazzled at the explosion from up above. The loud sound elicited countless howls all over Diablo Desert as wolves also witnessed this.

Chuckling, Nappa looked down at Mai. "What are the chances that the one who falls out happens to be a woman!? Hahaha!"

Mai, spotting Shuu's sword from afar, got up to run and grab it. Nappa's hands found its way around her throat before he lifted her up. Her feet were kicking away, but nothing worked out for her.

Looking into her eyes, Nappa's head started to nod in approval.

"You got some fight in you, too, don't you? The last few hundred thousand women I've encountered just screamed and ran away, but you? You're an exception like a few others ones, aren't you?"

Mai couldn't even respond. She couldn't breathe and her vision was going black.

Upon being tossed down, Nappa started to ascend off the ground. "Guess I'll be seeing you later, too, hehehehe."

He then flew off. Looking on from behind, Mai caught a glimpse of his tail. The very sight of it just wiggling around before he wrapped it around her waist had flashbacks running right through her mind.

There was no doubt that Goku and he had some kind of relation.

As the night breeze brushed against his face, Nappa was doing aerial tricks such as flying upside down or just spinning. His mind hadn't felt this free and happy for the longest. The light gravity on the planet was also somewhat refreshing since it made him feel as light as a feather.

His mind wasn't mainly on immortality, but the mere revival of a new Saiyan race. The thought of a whole race of Super Saiyans being bossed around by him and Vegeta was like a world of fantasy. You can't stop a Super Saiyan, much less people who can't die in the first place! Sensation of novelty from endless possibilities made Nappa feel more liberated than he's ever been and that slight feeling of liberation inspired him to take the entire ordeal, no matter the risk.

It wasn't soon until he stepped foot in a different area. Though the little town seemed empty, Nappa was able to sense small power-levels everywhere.

Aru village was no city and Nappa realized this quickly once he touched down. There were houses in rows across from one another within yards of contact. It was a straight line to the back.

"They must be sleeping…" Nappa looked around. To his left, he spotted a door with a hole in it that was blocked over by tape. He grinned. "Time to have some fun…"

* * *

Despite it being very late at night, not everyone happened to be sleep.

Inside one of the many small homes, a young woman and her husband remain by an old man's side. For years, he had been one of the most hard working men in the village, but as any mortal, there were times where you grew old and fragile and needed to be taken care of by the people you once looked after.

His daughter, Pocawatha, was by his side in a chair as he remained on his bed. Her husband came in with some hot cocoa and sat down beside her.

"Thank you." Pocawatha's father, Sherman Priest, sat up and raised the hot cup to his nose as to warm his face up and indulge in the nice aroma coming from inside.

"How ya feelin', gramps?" Johlfer asked.

"Could be better," Sherman answered. "I just pray that whatever's going on doesn't get worse."

Though they didn't live in a rather big city, the people of Aru village heard about what was going on. Down where they lived, there were no lawmen as crime was pretty much as rare as flying pigs.

"AHHHHH!"

Everyone jolted up. Sherman's hot cocoa spilled over his blanket and caused him to wince at the sudden scream. Pocawatha and Johlfer looked at one another prior to hopping out of their chairs. The former of the two grabbed an axe as Johlfer was quick to get his rifle that was mounted on the wall.

As soon as they walked out, the spotted a big, bald, burly man with blood leaking off his boots and splattered on his defined calves having tossed a man out of his home and into one of the cars. The kids in the area all scurried back into their homes, as did most of the women. For the rest that remained outside to protect their home, had rifles and shotguns pointed at the Saiyan.

"I tried snapping their necks as quietly as possible...but one woke up and I had to squash his face. Sorry about the noise."

Everyone fired off at once. The fear was so heavy in their hearts that he could practically feel their organs pulsating out of their bodies. He smelled the fear. He was going to be sure to cash in on it, too.

Nappa's hands moved faster than lightning itself. Once all the fire stopped, he remained there, unscathed.

"W-What in t-tarnation is he!?"

Nappa looked at the bullets in the palm of his hands. His eyes then looked over to all the people around him. "My turn?"

Every single male in the area dropped dead in less than a second. Pocawatha, as well as the other women there, looked on in shock. None could even lay eyes on their husbands as the blood that spilled from their bodies began to touch their feet.

"Now…" Nappa started to walk into one of the houses. Nobody did as much as stop him since they either fell down to check on their loved ones or remained stationary, as if a trance of fear was cast on them. "Time to finish up."

* * *

One of the last few stops Nappa made before the sun rose seemed like a ghost town.

Jingle village was different in its own respect and typically had people thriving there, but it wasn't as if Nappa knew that. As he stepped down in the middle of the village, he closed his eyes to focus on any potential survivors.

He couldn't sense anything, but one.

And that one was right behind him.

"Oh, I thought I was the only one here, too!" a soft voice squeaked from behind.

Nappa could have sworn a child was talking to him by the high-pitched voice that resonated from this person, but upon turning around, he was looking right at a young, slim blue-haired woman with a red ribbon in her head. She had a nice soft smile and wide, round, innocent eyes.

"Everyone seemed to disappear off somewhere," she told Nappa. "I saw a little ship leave here not too long ago as I was coming in the city. I looked around and found nothing and nobody, so I decided to set up camp!"

Nappa looked at her with a blank face. It wasn't as if he really cared. Had it not been for the senzu bean, his exhaustion would have overridden his rationale before he killed her just so that he could be done with it all and get back to Vegeta. The amount of niceness that just radiated from her very soul disgusted Nappa.

"And you're the only one here, are you?"

"Sure am!" she giggled. "I really don't know what's going on but I kind of like it!"

Nappa chuckled. A bright little glow started to come from his right hand. "I'll give you something to like."

A small gust of wind breezed against both their faces. It unfazed the bald Saiyan warrior, but not she.

Cocking her head back with her eyes closed, she came forth with a sneeze so powerful that everything pretty much changed about her except for her clothes and body figure.

Her hair was blonde, and her eyes far less innocent looking, as if she was angry. Without warning, she pulled out an Uzi and started firing away like it was nobody's business.

Of course, the shock that came from Launch seeing that Nappa did more damage to the dented bullets than they did to him was a look that Nappa always relished in before he rendered the final blow.

"W-What in the hell are you!?"

Nappa's toothy grin caused Launch's face to almost go blue. A white ball of ki crackling in the palm of his hand elicited the woman to turn around and try to get the hell out of dodge, but it was pointless.

Cocking his fist back, Nappa spoke out his own thoughts. "As much as I'd like to have you for myself...I don't think Vegeta would appreciate your little annoying transformations!"

Following through, Nappa let out a brief yell, which was followed by a much more higher pitched and petrifying one from Launch as she felt the skin starting to melt off her flesh the closer that Nappa's attack got to her.

Once her body was consumed and reduced to nothing, Nappa moved his neck around, cracking it. "Almost time to report to Vegeta. Gotta make a little quick trip around, though."

* * *

The bald Saiyan had been doing a number on countless people for hours now. Sure enough, with the knowledge that they didn't need all of the women on Earth, Nappa went on a couple of killing sprees for long periods of time to get his blood pumping again. Then every few hours, he would spare dozens of women prior to hitting the big towns again and calculatingly killing the men, elderly, and children.

Hundreds of millions of people were dying by the hour and he was loving every second of it.

During these hours of Nappa purging most life on Earth, Vegeta spoke of exactly every little detail in regards to how he wanted an underground bunker built before he decided to take off with a plethora of capsules given to him by Dr. Briefs so that he could gather up all kinds of resources that Earth provided for the project he had he and his daughter working on. After just half an hour of hitting all the major cities left standing, Vegeta was right back in the lab with two boxes of dozens of capsules given to him. Chi-Chi, who after a certain amount of time, was coming back to, had been sedated by Dr. Briefs from orders of Vegeta so that she would stop being a nuisance for him.

Vegeta, having discussed exactly what he wanted done by the time he came back to Earth, waited patiently without having either of them leaving his sights or not being within earshot. He passed the time reading over some books they had, but quickly got bored. Though he had his back against the wall with his eyes closed, Dr. Briefs and Bulma made sure to not take any chances on saying anything out of line while he appeared to be sleep.

They had to work on blueprints as they grieved even though they weren't given the option to process everything like they wanted to.

Hearing a slight noise, Vegeta's eyes shot open; Dr. Briefs had lit a cigarette. On the verge of passing out from exhaustion of consecutive hours of work without food or anything to drink, he needed to smoke. Something had to keep him going.

"We've finished the outline and the blueprint of how you want it made," Dr. Briefs told him, drawing out every word he said.

Vegeta unfolded his arms and walked over to them. Dr. Briefs removed himself from his seat to allow Vegeta to look over the plans that they had on a large sheet of paper. Bulma was tired as hell and uncharacteristically quiet. While Vegeta's hot breath was barely touching the side of her neck as he looked over their plans, her eyes remained stuck to the wall ahead and her breathing almost still.

Skimming over all the schematics they had in mind to build precisely what Vegeta wanted to be done, he approved of everything with a smile and a nod.

"So you have everything outlined precisely I wanted. Good." He looked back to Dr. Briefs. "How long would it take the two of you to get together and build everything accordingly?"

"Since you managed to get every possible item we'd need for our survival and our project...it should take us a month and a half at the latest to having everything together."

"Make it one month and not an hour more," Vegeta ordered.

"O-Of course."

Taking a long drag of his cigarette, Dr. Briefs sighed. He said a month and a half so that he could at least have some time for him and Bulma to rest, but now they had to push it. But of course. What else would there be to expect from some psychopathic, murderous extraterrestrial?

Vegeta felt Nappa's presence looming around in the building. He had to hold back a chuckle as Nappa was going back and forth all over house. Nappa was getting better but he still struggled to get a lock and hold onto Vegeta's energy, especially considering there were so many damn rooms in Capsule Corp.

Once Nappa finally arrived in the lab, Dr. Briefs had to immediately cover his nose. The stench woke up his cat as it let out a loud meow. As for Bulma? She snapped out of her trance and gagged as she forced herself to redirect her upcoming vomit down her parched throat.

"I decided to make a quick trip back around and burn all the bodies I've put to waste," Nappa told Vegeta. "I would have been here early in the morning if it weren't for that."

"Did you do a number on the big cities?"

"Yes," Nappa answered.

Vegeta smiled. That was exactly what he wanted to hear. Given how this planet had valuable resources that any normal species would ever require, Planet Earth was still very technologically inferior to many other species out in the Universe, but he did not want to take any chances; he needed to lower the resale value of this planet so that it'd be enough for him to buy outright instead of having everything looking nice or being remodeled and then sold for a price potentially higher than what they could even afford.

"So, what now?" Nappa asked.

"You can start by taking a shower!" Bulma blurted. Having forgotten for a moment who she was talking to, she covered her mouth and looked away, body as still as a statue. Dr. Briefs looked at Nappa, who seemed to be getting angry.

"Why's the old man even alive?" Nappa asked.

"Focus," Vegeta told Nappa. "Me spending time with these two as they worked on ideas for us to proceed with caution has helped me realize that they are much more capable of things for us than what I initially believed. They can do far more than just create Dragon Ball locators, Nappa."

Nappa's head raised with intrigue. "Is that right? And the senzu beans?"

"We'll get to that at a later time. For now, we ought to head out and report to Freeza."

"Head out?" Dr. Briefs asked.

"Yes, head out," Vegeta repeated. "Don't forget at this point our priorities aren't just this planet, but keeping up appearances with our personal business as well. And just because we'll be gone doesn't mean you get any silly ideas. You will build the underground bunker as I want you to and you'll round everyone up. If I come back and nothing's done as I demanded to be, there will be far worse of a hell than you can possibly imagine. Got it?" Dr. Briefs or Bulma didn't even speak. "Good. Let's go, Nappa. You need to get cleaned up."

As soon as the two Saiyans left the room, Bulma fell out of her chair.

Dr. Briefs placed his cigarette on the counter and went down to help her. "Honey, are you okay? How are you feeling?" He knew that this was an extremely dumb question, but the work that they had been doing took a great toll on him, so he wasn't sure if it was effecting his daughter in a worse way than it was him. He was used to this more than Bulma, so he understood if she wasn't used to the strain yet.

That wasn't the case, though. Was Bulma hungry, tired, and parched? Yes.

It was the fact that as she worked for Vegeta, she remained quiet and in her head. She went over the fact that she lost all of her friends and the first person she can even call her best friend: Goku. Thinking about him and Yamcha and everyone else she always tended to be annoyed by, but loved very dearly, made her want to cry so bad. But she couldn't bring herself to. Not in front of Vegeta. She didn't want to give him any further ego inflating satisfaction.

Taking it all in, Bulma's back slowly moved as she took a deep breath. Her father grabbed his cigarette back from the counter and took a puff of it. Once she exhaled, Bulma's body bounced up and down as she started wailing. The sudden burst of waterworks left Briefs stuck there, looking at his helpless daughter as she cried her eyes out with her face buried in the floor. He didn't even know what to think of it all at this point.

Yes, he lost his wife, and more than likely lost some old friends. He was hurting, too. He had never went through a pain like this before, but he still had his daughter. And despite the fact that she was willing to risk her life earlier solely to protect him, he knew his duty as Bulma's dad was to look out for her. She needed someone to be there for her.

He could tell by the feral screams of utter hopelessness that rang through Capsule Corp that this was rock bottom. Every flicker of hope that they could have wished for at this point was useless. They were stuck in a rock and a hard place that they'd never be able to get out of.

And for him and his daughter to be forced to give any survivors the false hope of there being a safe place, only for them to eventually find out the truth meant that they were in this together and only together. Once the cat was out of the bag, it was going to be them against the world.

And only then, could they rely on the Saiyans.

Dr. Briefs had to light another cigarette before his first one finished as he sat down next to his daughter. He didn't touch her or say a word. He just wanted her to know he was there.

He tuned out her cries and drowned himself in his own curious thoughts. His mind was on Vegeta; for a man who comes from a race of people who only have war and conflict on their mind, Vegeta was a genius in his own right.

Dr. Briefs had his mind in a twirl but he was still able to acknowledge this blatant fact.

Those were his last thoughts before he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_16 hours have passed from the moment Vegeta and Nappa departed from Earth._

Dr. Briefs' eyes shot open as he let out a gasp so loud that the cigarette he fell asleep while smoking was sucked into his mouth. The old man instinctively got over on his two knees and started to cough horribly as if he had tuberculosis. His cat patted against his back to get the cigarette from his throat. One final cough out of what felt like one thousand and a miniscule pool of saliva was enough to save him.

"Ugh...I've got to stop smoking.."

Getting up as he wiped his mouth, Dr. Briefs' hand went down to grab the wet cigarette that almost killed him. Upon picking it up, he let the stick of nicotine dry by placing a lit lighter underneath it, slowly going back and forth, and all around. Once dry enough, he inserted it into his mouth and began to smoke the rest. It wasn't until the first drag upon waking up that he realized something was amiss.

The red that burned the nicotine in the cigarette turned a lighter color as Dr. Briefs stopped puffing. "Bulma?"

Having just woken up after a long needed rest, the man started to assume the worst. He dashed out of his lab and checked every room other as he made his way toward the front door - or what used to be of it. After sliding into the living room, the frantic doctor came to an automatic halt as he saw the dried up blood on the wall where his wife's head was banged against.

"W-where's the body?"

Dr. Briefs headed outside during the quiet night and looked ahead. West City was a complete ghost town; not a single sound came out from miles. Knowing of the massacre that went on in the city, this was to be expected, but still, the fact that he could hear crickets and flies around him was a definite tell that things weren't normal in the city.

That silence did get broken by sounds that seemed to be laughter.

Following the noise, Dr. Briefs made a circle around his home and into the backyard. There, he spotted his daughter and Chi-Chi both crying with one another as they held each other in their arms. What he heard earlier wasn't laughter, but such a sorrowful, hysterical cry, that one could easily mistake it as such.

This sight had Dr. Briefs actually stop and think for a moment. Having gotten his rest, as well as being able to process what's happening, seeing how it's affecting others as well elicited a tear to fall down his face.

"I-I gave them all I had…" Chi-Chi sniffed. "I was a good wife...a good mother...why did this have to happen to my family? Why us, Bulma?"

Chi-Chi couldn't go on any longer. She buried her face in Bulma's chest as the older female wrapped her arms around Chi-Chi and gave her a kiss on the forehead, holding her like a mother would. As the two rocked back and forth, Bulma's dampened eyes made contact with her father's.

Dr. Briefs broke out of his trance and started to slowly approach Bulma and Chi-Chi with his hands in his pocket, puffing on his cigarette still. Right behind the two was a freshly dug up spot - an obvious grave for his late wife.

As he was within reach of the two, Dr. Briefs placed his hands on both their shoulders, eyes unable to leave the sight of Panchy's resting place.

"I'm sorry you didn't at least get to see your loved ones or get to bury them."

Chi-Chi's crying intensified. If she were to cry any harder, the tears that came from her wailing would moisten Bulma's bloodied, stinking shirt up so much that her entire face could rip through. Regardless of how much they cried, everyone needed support right now.

Dr. Briefs took one final puff of the cigarette he had before he flicked it away onto the street ahead of him. With the smoke blowing away with the wind, Dr. Briefs sighed. Reality was there to crush his head yet again.

"Bulma, we don't have much time. We should start working on the bunker."

"I figured you were going to say that as soon as you woke up. I was just waiting on you, dad."

As much as he would love to take the time out to pay his respects to his late wife, Dr. Briefs knew that there wasn't time to waste.

Chi-Chi pulled herself away from Bulma's grasp, eyes as red as a tomato while she rubbed on the saggy bags underneath them. "B-Bunker? You're going to start now?"

"We have to," Dr. Briefs told her.

Chi-Chi sniffed. "You're an amazing man, Mr. Briefs. To put your own feeling aside...and make a home for everyone of the people left...it says so much about you."

Dr. Briefs paused. Eyes as wide as the pool of tears wept across the world just hours ago, he realized one fact.

He turned around to face his daughter. Bulma shamefully looked away as she kept her head down. Neither he or Bulma could even look at the slight relief on Chi-Chi's face - not even for a second.

If only she knew.

Just for that reason, he grabbed at another cigarette with his lighter ready to spark.

* * *

It took only 18 days of travel until Vegeta and Nappa made it to Freeza Planet 79 where their emperor was last said to be doing business. The first thing Nappa did was take a nice, warm shower and get himself dressed up. He wouldn't dare bring his horrible, decaying stench around Freeza - even he knew better than that.

They walked the corridors with proud smiles on their faces. Of course, this was a common thing that other soldiers saw very often from the two. Nappa and Vegeta always held their heads up high as if they were the most untouchable soldiers in all of the Freeza Force, and in a way, they were.

It always used to be about their secret power that would mark them as a level far above the rest: the full moon.

But now it was different.

There was much more on their minds that gave them the ego boost that they had now.

The only thing that surprised them at this time was the fact that Freeza wasn't in the debriefing room. Vegeta and Nappa, instead, walked in on Kikono and Beriblu.

"Nice to finally hear from the two of you," Kikono greeted the two.

Vegeta looked around, confused. "Where's Lord Freeza?"

"Well, if the two of you had your scouters on you when you were away as you should have, then you'd know that Freeza had to leave off on important business, wouldn't you?"

Vegeta didn't respond.

"Lord Freeza also wanted to let you know that the coordinates have been transferred to your pods," Kikono informed them.

"So, how did business on Earth go?" Beriblu inquired.

"Everything went off without a hitch," Vegeta answered. "Nappa and I managed to eliminate all indigenous life there within the span of hours."

"Really?" Kikono was rather surprised. "I thought it'd take you two three days rather than a day and a half. You two must have improved greatly."

Nappa and Vegeta smiled. Usually, when it came to missions, they took their time. But with their goals far above levels that even Freeza could comprehend, they made sure to get things done in a timely fashion.

"This is good news then," the blue skinned woman said, clapping her hands together. "Lord Freeza will be pleased. There are businessmen that will be headed over to that world in order to assess a potential price for what you two have left remaining. In the meantime, you ought to go take care of that stubborn tergiversator that Lord Freeza told you about."

"And also please be sure that you keep your scouters on your person at all times," Kikono warned the Saiyans. "Lord Freeza won't be able to know what's going on if you two don't."

"Like Kikono said," Beriblu told Vegeta, waving her fingers. "Toodle loo."

As the Saiyans walked off, Vegeta continued to think to himself. There was without a doubt in his mind that it was universally known that scouters were used as transmitters; this was how they knew what took place on Earth with Raditz. He had almost forgot that Freeza could listen in as well. It was just as he thought: Freeza was undoubtedly keeping tabs on him.

Now he knew that he had to be extra careful.

Vegeta smiled.

" _Nice try, Freeza."_

Vegeta's train of thought was sucked away as he bumped into a familiar disgusting looking fellow.

"So we're not saying hello anymore?" the chunky fellow asked.

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "And just what are you doing here, Guldo? Where are the others?"

"Oh, I heard about the big news: getting your own planet? Now that's a promotion in my book! I just can't believe how much you and Nappa are trying to be like the Ginyu Force and get your own planets now. I mean before, with Raditz and those two other guys, you could have your own little squad, but now there's only two of you. There's really no way you can work on your poses with just two people, ya know."

Nappa laughed out loud. "The day we try to pose around like a buncha' pansies is the day that you actually lose some weight and look like a proper soldier, ya' slime ball!"

"HA HA HA!" Guldo mocked his laughter. "I have a squad that are like my own brothers! All you two have left is each other and a blown up memory of an endangered species!" He started to walk off. "Holla back if you really think you got one on us!"

"Why you little!"

Vegeta had his hand on Nappa's shoulder. A simple touch from his superior was all that was required for the vein on Nappa's head to disappear just as quick as his anger. Vegeta guided Nappa to follow him before he started to speak with his subordinate. "We don't have time for petty games, Nappa; we have business to take care of. Stay focused."

By the time that the two Saiyans made it outside by the departure site, Vegeta stopped right in front of his open pod, as did his subordinate. Removing his scouter from his face, Vegeta tossed it into his pod and closed it. Looking at Nappa and back to the pod, he non-verbally communicated for him to do the same thing. The silence coming from Vegeta and the extra amount of non-verbal cues was somewhat unusual coming from the prince. Though he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, Nappa had watched both Raditz and Vegeta grow from boys into young, fine warriors; he practically knew Vegeta like the back of his hand, so there was obviously something up.

"What's the matter, Vegeta?" His tone of voice was akin to that of a concerned parent.

"We've been too careless. I just remembered that Freeza can listen in on us through the scouters," Vegeta reminded him. He wanted to kick himself for forgetting such an important detail, but judging by how Kikono and Beriblu acted, they haven't been able to catch him slipping at the mouth and speaking of anything that he wouldn't want them to hear. "From now on we have to be careful of what we say when we have our scouters on. Understood?"

Nappa's eyes got big as he rubbed his hand over his bald, shiny head. "Aw, shit...I completely forgot! You don't think we've given anything away, did you?"

Vegeta shook his head. "Doubt it." Opening his pod once more, he spoke for the last time before they took off. "Just be mindful."

Nappa let out a sigh. "Gotcha." A bit of stress was lifted from his shoulders, but there was now more added weight. He wasn't all too sure if they had given anything away on Planet Yardrat, but if that happened to be the case, then sure enough, Freeza would know that something's up by now. As long as the tyrant didn't interfere with any of their plans, then they were sure to be good. At least he hoped.

With that out of the way, Nappa and Vegeta entered their pods before take off. The journey to Planet Tech Tech wasn't going to be nearly as long as their recent trips.

* * *

Planet Tech Tech was a rather advanced civilization, which was why they had loose affiliations with the Freeza Force. The people were very little in size, but their intelligence and hostile nature of some people would put off a lot of those who ever planned on visiting.

That, and the fact that they had a Saiyan amongst their kind was what would really put some people off. Once it came knowledgeable to Freeza's personal intel that a surviving Saiyan resided on this world, Freeza wanted him, though the Saiyan refused to join his ranks. He didn't want any part of the Freeza Force and preferred to stay where he was.

And he had to kill Freeza Force soldiers to show just how badly he wanted no part of the organization.

But he didn't think of the consequences.

And now the main city of Planet Tech Tech was up and smoke with countless dead little people and burning motor vehicles everywhere. The heavy smoke clouded and even partially blocked the agonizing cries from the people who were unfortunates enough to have their limbs detached, yet still remain with a beating heart.

"A planet of weaklings…" Nappa spat at the ground. "Weaker than those Earthlings, even. I never thought such a thing were possible."

Vegeta couldn't care any less. His mind was on Earth and the Dragon Balls; this was nothing but a little side quest for him, so he wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible.

"What's the closest reading you have?" Vegeta asked. He could feel a rather strong power approaching them from the side but no longer did Vegeta want to rely on a simple device to detect someone; he wished to hone his ability to sense ki - to perfect it.

Nappa, scanning the power that grew closer and closer by the second, was rather impressed.

"Whoever this is can't be some low-level."

"What's the reading exactly?"

"This guy's grown up on a race weaker than Earthlings and he has a battle power of six thousand, Vegeta. He has to be a mid-class warrior from back home."

Vegeta's eyes narrowed.

Nappa did indeed make a point. Back at home, the majority of the Saiyan race were low-class warriors, save for a select few. Raditz himself, despite being put on Nappa's team before the prince, was also a low-class, though with enough potential to not be sent off as an infiltration child like he believed Kakarot was. Even Saiyans with battle-powers of 2,000 weren't considered to be mid-class warriors. A power-level of 6,000 was a mark that not even a handful of Saiyan soldiers eclipsed back when he was a child, so whoever this person was, more than likely happened to be a promising soldier in his younger days.

Still, Vegeta couldn't just immediately jump to any conclusion and try to connect the dots. He had to see it for himself.

The Saiyan duo spotted a black figure rushing in from them far up above. The closer he got, the more Vegeta and Nappa were capable of making him out.

Once the small figure came closer, Nappa managed to point out an observation. "He's wearing Freeza Force armor..." In the bald man's mind, this person was definitely a soldier from back home, not just some survivor like Kakarot.

While both Vegeta and Nappa were right in some of their assumptions, the one obvious thing never occurred to either of the two.

This man wasn't some mid-class from back home. He was born into the only elite class of the Saiyan race - the royal class.

Vegeta's voice almost cracked when the Saiyan touched down just ten yards across from them.

"T-Tarble…!?"


	5. Torment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freeza attempts to get the natives of Planet Tech Tech to pledge their allegiance by using Tarble as an example; Bulma and her father carry the task of rounding up more survivors, but the hard reality strikes yet again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you begin reading, look up "Tarble Manga" in google to get the real accurate depiction of what Vegeta's brother looks like in the eyes of Toriyama since I describe him differently from his animated portrayal. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Pretty much everything about Tarble oozed the fact that he came from the Saiyan royal bloodline; his armor was an exact replica of Vegeta's, and the angry face he showed up with could have easily been mistaken for first Saiyan prince's look of annoyance. The only thing different about this man was the hair - and even then, it was only mildly different. Tarble's hair, much like Vegeta's, stood up in a flame-like style, albeit it was tilted as if the wind was constantly pushing against his face.

It wasn't often when Vegeta could truly be at a loss for words, but these were one of those times. Apart from exclaiming his younger brother's name, Vegeta couldn't mutter much anything else for a brief moment as his mind was jumping all around the place.

"Big brother!?"

Tarble would have preferred to see Vegeta under any other circumstance rather than this. Growing up, Tarble was never too sure if Vegeta was still alive. And though his tail swaying around showed he was happy and relieved to see his brother, Tarble's facial expression quickly changed to that of worry.

He had almost forgotten who Vegeta worked for.

"Well, well!" Nappa cocked his head back with his fists on his hips, laughing like a mad man. "Won't you look at that, Vegeta!? Looks like Raditz isn't the only one who's got a family reunion episode going on, huh!" He then pointed right at Tarble. "LOOK AT HIM! HE'S BASICALLY A SHORTER VERSION OF YOU!"

Getting red in the face, Vegeta growled. "Now's not the time for jokes, Nappa! I don't know if you realize, but this situation goes far beyond that of a low-class' issues. He's royal blood - don't forget that."

Nappa immediately stood up straight and nodded. "Of course. Sorry."

"Of all the worlds he'd send you away to, who'd have thought it'd be right here." Vegeta took a step forward. Tarble, very aware of the situation, started to stutter, losing his train of thought. Vegeta cut him off before he could even continue speaking. "So, tell me - is it true? Are you a traitor now, Tarble?"

Tarble was nothing like his brother, but being a Saiyan, it wasn't very hard for words to annoy him, either. "How the hell was I supposed to know you'd still be alive, Vegeta!? If I knew that, I would have dropped everything just to be with you - you of all people should know that! Besides, I've just been mingling with everyone here. It's not like I was going to kill them or anything...even though dad probably would have wanted me to."

Vegeta scoffed.

"Sound like someone you know?" Nappa asked, referring to Kakarot.

"Not. Now."

Nappa just figured it'd be best for him to keep his mouth shut forever at this point. He knew Vegeta was trying his very best to maintain his cool, but he wasn't doing well enough. The elder prince's tail was twitching as he stood over Tarble, who's was lashing side to side at an even faster rate.

Anxiety and nervousness protruded from the two brothers, albeit for different reasons.

"L-Look...I know I've killed some of Freeza's men...I crossed a line I probably shouldn't have, but I didn't know about you, Vegeta. You've got to believe me. If I had kno-URGH!"

The rib cracking punch to the side broke pieces off Tarble's armor. Never before had he felt such pain in his entire life with his insides shaking like an earthquake. It was as if Vegeta didn't hold back at all on that strike. Once Tarble fell over on his knees, unable to audible anything, he was grabbed by his hair.

Tarble coughed; his throat scraping to voice out words, he started to try and get through to Vegeta. "P-Please...b-big brother...d-don't do this…"

"Lord Freeza's orders are for me not to kill you," Vegeta told Tarble. "So it'll be easier on the both of us for me to not have to be the one to end you."

Tarble was sent sliding through the ground from a ferocious punch to the face. Slowly, he got up.

Vegeta was waltzing over to Tarble with a scowl on his face. Looking at his brother was almost like looking at the spitting image of himself, so to see someone who's meant to represent the elite class of a warrior race struggle just to fight back angered him.

"RAH!"

Tarble's scouter came off his face in three different pieces, his older brother's white glove now stained with blood that gushed from Tarble's busted lip. Vegeta, while just inches off the ground, spun around and proceeded to slam his foot into Tarble's chest.

The younger prince bounced and skipped around before he landed right on his face. He was breathing as much as he could but he felt like he was barely getting any oxygen. His blurred vision showed him that Vegeta was approaching him once more, somehow looking even angrier.

The ringing that drowned out Vegeta's voice started to die out. Second after second, Vegeta's voice got louder as he realized he wasn't being heard.

"I SAID GET UP!"

He snatched Tarble up by his hand and forced him back on his feet. Tarble, leaking blood, fell back over on one knee, coughing up a storm.

"TCH!"

Vegeta rammed the tip of his knee into Tarble's face, breaking his nose on impact. Watching as his little brother slid across the ground once more, Vegeta pounced onto him, ramming his foot into Tarble's ribcage.

The loud yell coming from his little brother caused Vegeta to twitch. He almost showed him mercy. But, with Vegeta's heightened self-awareness, the fact that he was on the verge of instinctively removed his foot from Tarble to assuage his pain caused him to apply even more force, which elicited a painful howl from Tarble.

"Don't you ever sit and think about how our people is looking up at you down from hell, Tarble!? Father didn't send you away because you were too physically weak, but you don't have the mindset of a Saiyan! A pathetic disgrace!" Vegeta showed his index finger just centimeters away from his thumb finger. "I was this close to forgetting I even had a weakling brother. I may not kill you, but your incompetence and lack of pride is the reason that you'll die. It's the reason that everyone you know here will either perish or fold under Freeza."

Tarble's eyes then shot open. By this point, Vegeta was far too focused on getting words to hurt than applying pressure to his brother's stomach. At this point, the pain Tarble felt vanished. In a brief second of rage, he rose his foot to kick Vegeta in the spine. Vegeta stumbled forward but quickly looked back, only to get a barrage of ki blasts coming right at him at point blank range.

"Whoah…." was all Nappa could say as he watched on.

The sudden burst of energy from Tarble was very reminiscent of Vegeta, especially when he was younger and more temperamental. The barrage of ki attacks when extremely angry and/or desperate was definitely a Vegeta thing and it ran straight into Tarble's blood as well.

The smoke that built up from Tarble's attacks made it hard for reinforcements of Planet Tech Tech to see as they approached the battle-field - even more so when Tarble charged as much energy into an attack that increased the size of the smoke times ten.

In all the dust that was kicked up, the smoldering smoke coming from Vegeta's arm made Tarble's heart drop. The older prince chuckled. The pushback Tarble received from the mighty winds due to Vegeta's supersonic speed almost sent him flying in itself before he could register that he had a stomach exploding punch right to the gut. Tarble's legs wobbled as he lost balance. Once on his knees, he proceeded to fall over on his sides and yell out in pain.

Nappa could hear the yells through the smoke and only bothered to assume the worst. Surely, as heartless as Vegeta was, he wouldn't bring himself to kill his own brother, would he? Like Vegeta insinuated earlier, this was different considering the fact that they are a royal kind, but still...Nappa wouldn't put it past Vegeta to kill the last of his family.

Then again...Freeza did tell him not to kill the turncoat.

"That's more than enough, Vegeta."

Freeza's voice paralyzed him. Vegeta had his hand stretched out, ready to deal a near life shattering strike. The anger from within quickly subsided from the sudden voice of Freeza from his scouter. "Yes, of course."

Vegeta didn't let Tarble's silent groans of utter agony bother him. He focused on Freeza as he closed his eyes. The moment that he felt that intense energy in the vicinity, his eyes shot wide open and cold sweat began to pour down his face. Now, he had heard of Freeza's power-level in the past, but to actually feel it?

There was no longer a single doubt in Vegeta's mind that he needed immortality. It was either that or actually by some miraculous nature, becoming a Super Saiyan.

Freeza's ship hovered hundreds of yards above the smoke Tarble managed to cook up. The tyrant himself had half a thousand men in the air as he remained in his hover chair. Right from the palm of his hand, Freeza let go a small bit of energy unable to be captured by the naked eye. What followed was a minor, yet mighty explosion powerful enough to blow all the clouds and smoke caused by Tarble out of the way.

Vegeta had to block his face from the pressure of winds that came onto him.

" _Such power…"_

With the area much more visible, the defense forces of Planet Tech Tech were seen in hovering vehicles, ships, as well as jets, all finally managed to gain a clear view of their targets. Down below, seeing Tarble struggling just to breathe as Vegeta looked down on him helped the natives of Tech Tech quickly realize who their enemies were.

Before any of them had a chance to lock on and fire, explosions all around them shook the planet. One by one, their vehicles, copters, jets, and tanks were all blown up by members of the Freeza Force, excluding the Ginyu Force, who watched on in amusement.

Once the debris is all cleared, Freeza removed himself from his chair. He casually descended down onto his feet with his hands behind his back, observing the scene before him.

Once Freeza touched down, so did all of his men. In a very militaristic and categorized formation, his soldiers were all lined up according to rank. The only ones exempt from forming a single file line of 10 in circles surrounding Vegeta are his top henchmen: Cui, Dodoria, Zarbon, the Ginyus, and Avo and Cado.

Tarble raised his chin to catch sight of the man before him. As clear as day, he could see - the cold, emotionless eyes of Freeza. All his life for years, he heard stories about the man, but has never seen him in person - until now. It was never a good thing to come into contact with Freeza himself unless one was an affiliate or business partner. If not one of those two, then it more than likely meant your demise.

Tarble closed his eyes shut and dug his face into his arm. "Vegeta….please."

"Who would have thought it'd turn out to be your brother, Vegeta?" Zarbon asked him.

"Another prince," Dodoria commented. "He's quite weak for one."

"Of course," Freeza said. "Why do you think none of you have ever heard of him?"

"Is that really his brother, though?" Guldo asked. "I mean, Saiyans aren't a very distinguishable race, ya know."

"For someone with four eyes, you sure are blind, aren't ya, Guldo?" Recoome joked. Laughter from the other members of the Ginyu Force followed on.

"He's the second and last son of the King," Vegeta informed Freeza in a monotone voice. He made sure to be emotionless and as still as stone; Vegeta knew under these circumstances, with the realization that he had a brother, everyone would be paying attention to every single word that came out of his mouth and every little movement that came from his body. Vegeta's nose could itch and people would be quick to assume that he has a soft spot for Tarble. For years, building up his reputation as the most pure, unadulterated, remorseless, cold-blooded murderer, Vegeta's managed to garner quite a lot of respect amongst the higher ranks. Even for his little brother would he not dare risk the reputation he's built on sheer sweat and blood.

"And you're sure he's the only one?" Freeza inquired.

Vegeta nodded. "Our father sent him away shortly before our planet's destruction - I wasn't sure myself if he had survived, so I never even bothered looking for him in the first place."

"But why would he be sent away?" Avo asked him.

"Good question," Cado chimed in. "We thought only lower-classes were sent away."

"If any of you bothered to pay attention to the transmitter on the scouter, it is quite obvious you'd understand simply by how he acts that he wasn't cut out to be a warrior." Vegeta spat at the ground. "Not even five seconds after all of you arrived here, he started to plead for his life."

"And you ain't kill him?" Cui asked with a smirk on his face.

Vegeta unwrapped his tail from his waist. He knew exactly what that fish-face idiot was trying to do. "By Lord Freeza's orders, I was told not to." Wrapping the furry tail around Tarble's throat, Vegeta lifted up his little brother with an extra grip. Looking coldly into Freeza's eyes, he then covertly asked for permission. "The choice is up to you whether or not I end him right here and now."

Freeza just stood there. He didn't even do as much as blink as he scrutinized the two of them. Nappa, in the background, couldn't even begin to imagine the sheer magnitude of this situation. Why would Freeza bring a portion of his entire army as well as his top men just to come to this planet? It didn't make sense as far as he could see.

Tarble's feet dangled as he tried to kick away but the increased grip from his brother served as a warning and he stopped. His airway passage was almost sealed completely shut, but he was still conscious and able to breathe, albeit with a reddened face.

Freeza was unusually quiet. This was something Vegeta had observed early on as he just stood there with the awkward silence coming from his men. Some looked on in pleasure at the sight of seeing someone more than likely going to get tortured or killed - maybe even both. Most looked on in intrigue for Vegeta's reaction in these next upcoming moments. Of all the soldiers there, only a few dozen managed to see Vegeta close up and face to face; everyone else just heard stories about him and of course, they were getting first row seats to how the legendary genocidal Saiyan would deal with his brother's punishment.

Freeza didn't look like he was blinking or even breathing for that matter. It was almost as if he and Vegeta were having a blatant staring contest. It was a poker face head to head battle and so far, it appeared to be a stalemate.

But when Freeza smiled, he finally spoke. "Well, then."

Vegeta had to avoid making a face of confusion. Did Freeza catch on to something? What was it that he managed to conclude? Or worse yet, did Freeza himself manage to capture even the smallest fragment of worry that came from what was about to happen. Sure, it was insanely quiet, but not quiet enough for Freeza or anyone else to hear Vegeta's accelerating heart-beat that screamed anxiety.

"Let him down, Vegeta," Freeza ordered.

Vegeta paused, but only for a millisecond before he dropped Tarble right alongside his foot without caution.

Once down, Freeza stomped on Tarble's head. His eyes didn't leave Vegeta's face. The first born of King Vegeta the third gulped down quick and hard. Concentrating on his brother's energy, he could feel he was still alive, but he knew that blow was something extremely serious.

Tarble's vision was nothing but spinning blackness. Still, he was cognizant enough of his predicament to be able to form words. Once Freeza loosened his grip just a little bit, Tarble spoke out.

"P-Please, Lord Freeza...I'm s-so, so sorry...I-I didn't know that my b-brother was still a-alive…! Please! If I had know-"

"Yes, yes, yes, I know," Freeza cut him off. "Had you been aware that your older brother was alive and indeed working for me, you would have not resisted. I already knew the answer to that from when you first started running at the mouth over the scouters. I observed that broken scouter over there is yours...it makes me wonder why I couldn't find anything from you…" He then smiled. "Daddy King Vegeta must have loved his baby boy after all to go to such lengths to protect him and keep him from an environment he couldn't possibly survive, yes?"

Vegeta folded his arms. He just wished they could get this over with already.

Freeza, while leaning down to get closer to Tarble, raised his chin to look at Vegeta. "So theoretically, given how much alike the first born is to your father, brother Prince Vegeta must love his baby brother, too." Freeza's smile widened. "Theoretically, of course."

The laughter that came from a few soldiers made Vegeta's skin crawl. If he had to so much as prove himself that he wasn't what they thought he was, then so be it.

Vegeta didn't as much as charge a beam of ki at the tip of his fingers before he fired it right at Tarble. The beam was deflected and grazed Vegeta's lower neck, which caused him to almost fall over. Freeza was the one to swat away the blast with the tip of his tail and he didn't look rather surprised, unlike most the other soldiers, as well as Nappa even.

"What was it that I ordered you not to do, Vegeta?" Freeza asked as he approached him.

Vegeta swallowed down hard and stood upright with his chin held high. "Not to kill him, Lord Freeza."

"So, please do explain what were your intentions with that pitiful attempt at a death strike happened to be? Why would **you** , of all people, blatantly disobey my orders in front of all these men? You do realize your rank is to exemplify what not only what one of my best men is capable of, but to show off his due diligence as well."

"Incentive," Vegeta replied dryly.

Freeza covered his mouth with a fist as his shoulders bounced up and down. "Ohohohohohoho, incentive he says." Almost unable to control his laughter as he turned around to face his men, Freeza mumbled, "I wonder for who..."

Clapping his hands, everyone's eyes averted from the Saiyan prince over to the humored tyrant.

"Now, my men, I didn't bring you over here just to show you how big and bad this army truly is. You are here for a purpose and this purpose of yours requires giving these people some incentive…" Freeza looked over his shoulders at Vegeta before turning back to his men. "...incentive to have these cretinous dwarves come to the realization that they were fools for having even thought for just a second that they could resist me and my forces. I've never held one hundred percent jurisdiction in this planet, but I suppose that ends today."

Stepping up with a salute, Ginyu was the one to ask, "What would you like us to do, Lord Freeza?"

"Ginyu Force, I would like your group of five to partner up with Avo and Cado." The mere mention of their names brought the two brothers to step forth alongside Ginyu, who was now accompanied by his other four men as well. "You lot of seven will split into groups." Pointing up above, Ginyu and everyone else watch as little hatches under Freeza's giant ship open, releasing replicas of his very own ship, albeit a third of its size. "You will carry any valuable piece of cargo in those and load them up. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the seven men said.

Bringing his leg up, Recoom had his mouth open wide as he was ready to shout his name. Freeza put both his hands out, shaking his head and his hands. "Please, no. Just go do your job, men. No posing."

"Aye Aye!"

Guldo hopped on Burter's back as the two and Jeice all shot off in one direction. Ginyu, Avo, Cado, and Recoom all take off to another.

"Dodoria. Zarbon. Shisami. Cui." Freeza glanced at each of them to get their attention. "All of you will gather one hundred men each and go around the planet to gather every bit of valuable resource you can find - matters not what it is."

There was no talk back, not even a yes, sir. All four of the men Freeza ordered did exactly as they were told, picking out entire single line formations and beckoning them to follow before they all took off.

Hearing all of this, Tarble just couldn't stop replaying over in his head just precisely how much power this tyrant had. They were loyal, never uncertain - never doubtful. They listened, did as they told, and actually succeeded. He wondered just how ferocious Freeza could be to have his brother Vegeta wrapped around his finger just like the rest.

With them all gone, Freeza decided to speak on other personal business. His back was faced toward the Saiyans despite conversing with them. Nappa had just stepped up to Vegeta's side, side-eyeing him in order to get a good read of what was going on in Vegeta's head right now, but he couldn't get a damn thing.

"Your little task on Earth, I assume has been dealt with, correct?"

"Yes, of course," Vegeta answered.

"Great news." With a single motion of his finger, Freeza's hover chair came flying right for him. It stopped just inches shy of touching him, blowing wind in the faces of the Saiyans behind him. "There will be men sent there to scout out the value of the planet in regards to its living conditions as well as its resources."

"Very well."

"Would you like me to appraise its value? It'll be a bit more work and more money, but I assure you, it'll be worth it in the end after the mess made there is rectified and further improved upon."

"No, thank you." Vegeta crossed his arms. "If you don't mind me asking though, what do you plan on doing with him? Are you going to kill him or what?"

Freeza chuckled. "Try not to fret so much over your little brother, you worry wart." He took a little leap up and did a 180 mid-air prior to landing right in his hover chair. Lifting his tail to have some nice cushion, he proceeded to wrap it around Tarble's throat and rose him up until the tip of his boots touched the ground. "It all depends on if he survives his little lesson. As for the rest of you men, follow me!"

Without another word, Freeza's hover chair flew off to his ship as a few dozen soldiers followed.

"Being tormented by Freeza?" Nappa would admit that even he felt bad for the Saiyan he never got to meet until now. "That's going to be worse than death itself."

Vegeta's eyes was focused on Tarble's dried blood that lied around. This...all of this was something Vegeta only saw if he or his comrades were the ones spilling it, or if they were the ones doing the spilling. Regardless, one thing always came out of it: he managed to grow in power; Vegeta had a few potential life-ending battles over the years, letting his pride and ego get the best of him, but by sheer will he didn't die and here he is now, convinced of being the most powerful Saiyan to ever exist since the first legendary one himself.

"If he doesn't survive, then it'll only prove he was of no use to us any way, Nappa." Turning around, Vegeta started to head over to his pod.

Before Nappa could internalize Vegeta's words, he started running after him. "Hey, where are you going?"

Opening his pod, Vegeta got inside. With his hand on a button, he told Nappa, "They might take a while. I suggest getting some shut-eye while you can." Once clicked, Vegeta closed his eyes as the hatch closed on Nappa.

The bald Saiyan turned around and looked up at Freeza's ship. Closing his eyes for a brief second in an effort to concentrate, Nappa's entire body shivered as he clicks his tongue. "Uff," Nappa shook himself like a dog to get rid of the weird sensations going through his body. Upon approaching his own pod, the bald Saiyan got in to get him some rest as well. "Hang in there, Tarble. If you truly are your father's son, then you will survive. You have to."

* * *

As Tarble was going to go through his session of physical torment, the psychological torment due to the actions of Vegeta and Nappa had long taken its toll. The majority of the surviving women that Nappa purposely left behind either died of hunger or thirst, by the hands of wild life, took their own lives, or even worse.

It was quite obvious by Tights as she hovered over countless dead bodies that many people, especially those accustomed to the city, were far too reliant on technology without the knowledge of basic survival skills now.

" _Any live ones out there?"_

Tights was in the passenger seat of an aircraft as a long-haired woman with eye shadow driving was helping her search for survivors.

Tights looked over to the driver. "Mai, anything?"

The woman shook her head.

Tights clicked on the single button of a circular device to speak in it. "Negative. We'll keep looking for a while longer and we'll get back to you soon."

_"Alright, stay safe. Love you."_

Once the message was received, from the back of the aircraft came Chi-Chi. Having long abandoned the fashion she used to dawn, she was now wearing Goku's gi. The woman had took it upon herself to wear it in memory of her doting husband. Just going back to her old home was enough to make her breakdown, so Tights and Mai had to obtain the outfits for her.

"Done throwing up back there?" Mai asked.

Wiping her mouth, Chi-Chi nodded. "For now."

"HEY!" Tights started pointing out the window. "I see a tent down there! Start going down, go down!"

"No, you go down." Mai got up while holding onto the wheel with one hand as she used the other to reach into her trench coat to receive her sawed off shotgun. Tights took control of the aircraft and made sure to land it steady.

As soon as they touched down, Mai brushed past Chi-Chi, who followed up right behind her as Tights had a flashlight twice the size of her head in hand with how eerily dark it was on the outskirts of the woods.

Using the flashlight attached to her shotgun, Mai poked around the tent. Chi-Chi looked at her, awaiting for a response, to which was a simple shake of the head. Chi-Chi turned around to approach Tights, who was walking around until she stopped, having found a recent fire that was just on the glimpse of dying down completely.

"They may not be here right now, but they definitely are using this as a safe spot."

Chi-Chi saw an empty can of beans as well as dried fruit. These people were running low on their last bit of rations and it was only a matter of time before these survivors had to rely on the land itself, which was enough of a danger considering the wild animals out and about. As hard as she tried not to think about it, the situation reminded her of Gohan and how he told her that a major part of his training was surviving the first six months in the wilderness by himself. Before she could start trying to make an attempt at reminiscing over having her son alive, her ears picked up the sound of Mai cocking her weapon.

"Hold it!"

Mai had her shotgun pointed at two people who stood side by side - one male and the other female.

With the two survivors seemingly haven surrendered, Mai lowered her defenses. "We aren't here to hurt you, we ju-"

The woman used the tip of her foot to kick Mai's shotgun out of her hand. The man alongside her then proceeded to kick Mai in the stomach, which had enough force to send her sliding on her back. Her weapon was then caught by the woman who took her by surprise as she then aimed it at the fallen person.

"Now, none of you move…"

But of course, the most skilled person there wasn't going to cower just because they now had the drop on them.

Chi-Chi's quick footsteps alerted the woman. She turned around to get a good aim, but her husband was quick to try and get a go at her, which resulted in utter failure as Chi-Chi ducked under his swipe and elbowed him in the process prior to getting up to continue running. She followed with a leap, which fortunately for Chi-Chi, was done just in the nick of time. A nicely executed flip allowed the widowed wife of Son Goku to miss the shot taken at her by mere centimeters. Subsequent to landing on her feet and directly in front of the woman, she rendered her a firm open palm to the face and grabbed the gun as she fell.

Chi-Chi instinctively tossed it to Mai, who was just getting up.

"We're not here to hurt you," Chi-Chi told the woman. "We're looking for survivors...like you guys."

The woman and her husband were both in absolute disbelief at the skills shown. Tights simply stood there frozen the entire time as she was right in the middle of everything. Chi-Chi tried speaking to them but neither would talk. Instead, the woman's eyes would briefly glance right behind her.

"I promise we don't mean any harm…" Chi-Chi said softly. "We're here to help."

"Guys…" Tights said, catching their attention. "There's someone else."

Chi-Chi and Mai looked over to where Tights was pointing. A little girl with dirt on her face and torn rags was poking her blue eyes right from behind.

"Please don't hurt my mommy and daddy…"

"Videl, stay back!" her father called out.

Mai scoffed. Emptying the bullets from her shotgun, she tossed the weapon down and pointed over to the aircraft that they came in. She briskly walked over to the protective mother and reached her hand out.

"We are trying to help any remaining survivors together. We aren't going to hurt you. If we were, you'd be dead already. Trust me."

On the ground, she looked over to her husband, who took Tights' hand. He was more willing to trust them than her, but she didn't see any reason as to not believe them. If they truly wanted to, they'd kill them. They just had to be careful.

"Fine," she said, grabbing Mai's hand, much to everyone's relief.

"Mommy, mommy!"

Videl ran through everyone and clutched onto her mother's leg. Her father came from behind and hugged the both of them as he rubbed his little girl's unkempt hair.

"My name's Miguel," she introduced herself while embracing her family.

"Wait...THE Miguel?" Tights asked. "You've been to interviews and musicals, right!?"

The recognition made the woman smile. Though she wasn't some big time superstar, she was gaining notoriety for her angelic singing skills through some small cities. It could have became much more if it weren't for the attack that turned everyone's world upside down.

"Yeah, that's me. And this is my husband, Mark."

Mark just nodded and waved.

"You should come with us," Tights said. "My sister and my dad have been working non-stop at making an underground city They've just finished up setting all the main material like running water, lights, and food...even rooms! It's half the size of the city itself and they plan on making it just as big - maybe even bigger."

"You're joking," Mark assumed. To have an underground city was crazy enough in itself. With the few people they had left on the planet, it'd feel more like an underground country than a city.

Chi-Chi shook her head. "Dead serious. Her father is Dr. Briefs. She's from the smartest family alive and they've got everything we could possibly need."

"So it'd be in your best interest to be in a place where you know your wife and daughter will be safe," Mai assured her. "Come with us."

Though skeptical, did they really have a choice? Running low on food and having to put themselves in danger just to live another day wasn't the kind of life that they desired. The thought of walking into a trap occurred to Miguel and Mark, but then again, people have been slaughtered without seeming reason, so if they wanted them dead, they'd have done it as soon as they had the upper hand. Maybe Mai really was telling the truth.

"Ok, we'll come."

* * *

With the limited time that Dr. Briefs and Bulma had to perform up to Vegeta's expectations, father and daughter worked tirelessly.

Bulma and her dad, in just days, managed to build an underground world with hundreds of rooms made specifically for the people that they were rounding up. Not knowing just exactly how many survivors they'd welcome, Bulma and her father made a minimum 1,000 rooms that continued down a very, very long hall. All of that work in itself wasn't even the most laborious of tasks on their agenda. Everything appeared as a jail if it were made to be a giant city for the exception of any cells and prison guards. In each room, as soon as one would enter, there'd be a bed to the right with another entrance straight ahead that led to a bathroom.

Father and daughter worked tirelessly at building exactly all the necessary material that Vegeta demanded to be made, as well as some vacant rooms and other uncomfortable sections that she didn't dare want to think he had planned for.

Before Bulma and her father made the entire foundation due to their relentless hours of work, she managed to get into contact with her sister, who was eager to help with the idea of gathering any survivors, though unaware what truly was to come. Once the main rooms were constructed with running water and made beds, Bulma got those remaining people she knew best that were brave enough to go out and have daily search runs for any people still out there.

Once she saw random faces coming in, all of them being women, her heart would drop every time. Her father noticed the look of disgust that weighed on her when she saw another victim entering the road of hell that awaited them. But what could she do about it, really? Nothing.

So, like her father, she picked up the habit of smoking. The woman was smart enough to be able to make her own cigarettes from her intelligence in itself; it wasn't even hard growing tobacco, but as she continued to make cigarettes, her and her father continued smoking on the pre-made packs that they managed to have scavenged for them.

Bulma lit a cigarette and rolled a blueprint of schematics that she had managed to complete. She then proceeded to roll the paper and toss it away in the trash bin before she took a five second drag of her cigarette as she rubbed the temple of her forehead.

Dr. Briefs was feeding his cat. He looked over his shoulder for a brief second to see his daughter just sitting there.

"You should get some rest."

Bulma's saggy eyes could deceive anyone into believing she was 15 years older than what she actually was, which was only 28 going on 29 at the time. Her body and mind was exhausted, but her conscience wouldn't let her sleep; despite trying nice, luke warm showers and sipping on warm milk, she would be lucky enough just to get a power nap in. The nightmares of guilt, blame, and helplessness would never allow her to have a well rested night. She didn't know how her father did it, but she couldn't care less how he found a way to cope. Given what they were doing, she felt as if she deserved it.

"You know that's not happening. We still have to set up this little training room. I'm not done until it's all finished."

Dr. Briefs nodded. The nice sensation of his cat purring in his hand brought a smile to his face. At least someone seemed happy. "Just like your old man."

Bulma tapped some ashes into her homemade wooden ashtray. "Maybe too much…"

A knock on the door ruined any further potential progression on their conversation.

"Check who that may be, would you?"

Bulma grabbed a rectangular tablet on her side and tapped on the circular button attached to the black screen with her finger. Live footage appeared of someone right by the door.

"It's Tights."

Dr. Briefs approached Bulma and looked over her shoulder to look at who was outside. He managed to make out Tights, Chi-Chi, Mai, and another female, though he only managed to make out the feet of the other two.

"Switch the angle."

Bulma tapped the button again and the footage flipped to where everyone was visible. The sight of a man and a little girl had erased whatever exhaustion they had and alerted them. As soon as they took those steps down in the main area, Miguel's husband and daughter had their fates sealed.

Bulma covered her mouth and sealed her eyes shut. She pointed her trembling finger at the door for him to get it as she briskly left her chair and went through a side entrance of their laboratory to be in peace. Dr. Briefs looked down on the floor, sighing. He knew exactly what was going on in her mind and he hated that he saw Bulma either too exhausted to talk or crying more than he saw her smile and laughing. But of course, being in a situation like this, he'd probably never see her smile again.

Louder and more frequent knocks took Dr. Briefs out of his own depressing thoughts. Clearing his throat, he approached the main door to open it.

He expected something like this was going to happen. It was only a matter of when.

* * *

Looking around, the long walkway where everyone's rooms resided seemed to be empty. With just a few hundred people there, most of the women, once shown an empty room, went in to not come out for hours.

Suno could understand why. She went in her room for a long time as she was one of the first to be brought in. Some of the faces she had seen entering were never seen again for days until it was realized that the women inside had found one way or the other to end their own suffering. There were no rules in this underground city, just that people had a way to cope and survive, as well as not harming others. Mostly everyone understood why some people felt as if they had to take their own lives. Asides from her parents and most of her village, Suno had seen a minimum of 50 bodies being carried out by Mai and Dr. Briefs over the past five days.

Slit wrists, cut throats, bloated bodies from amateur attempts at suicidal hanging...she had pretty much seen virtually every way one could kill themselves at this point. Suno even thought about how she'd off herself, but knew she was too scared to go through with such a thing. Being here, at least there was still something to live for.

Out of the corner of her eye, Suno saw one of the few people who hung around outside her room. She came in looking dirty and frightened, but once she got cleaned up out of a shower, she had been looking and almost acting like a robot ever since.

Pocawatha was just standing in the corner with her arms folded and her legs crossed, looking down at the floor. She had been through some traumatizing experiences as a child as she had to witness a deceitful monster who could shapeshift and take away most of her friends. Not only that, but the sight of her cousins, uncles, and even some aunts having their heads crushed by that monstrous Saiyan left a scar on her that wouldn't ever soon heal. But the worst part? Every single other female friend from her village had killed themselves.

She had none of the people she grew up with to grieve alongside in company.

Pocawatha's eyes shot up to Suno, who immediately turned her head away once she was caught looking. Pocawatha just kept staring and Suno could feel her intense glare.

"You can say hi if you want," Pocawatha told her from across.

Suno waved at her nervously. "Hi." Walking over to Pocawatha slowly as she twiddled with her thumbs, she asked her, "do you know anyone here?"

Pocawatha nodded. "This one girl I met a while back - the one who made this whole thing - she and her monkey friend helped my friends a while back. Her and he are the only ones I know, but she told me he's dead now."

"Monkey friend?" Suno prodded. Just being able to for a second take her mind off the horrible things going on around her, she was deeply intrigued. "How could a monkey save your entire village?"

Pocawatha smiled for half a second at the question. "He wasn't an actual monkey, but a boy with a monkey tail. Name was Gokui or something like that."

"Son Goku!?" Suno asked out loud.

Pocawatha nodded. "Yeah, you knew him?"

Suno smiled. "Of course I did! He saved my entire village from the Red Ribbon Army and even beat them all by himself. Word got around that he also somehow managed to help someone's boy come back to life." The reminiscent crush she had on Goku made her heart pound a little extra hard, but the realization that he was probably dead too had put her down. "But him being dead is horrible…"

"If I recall correctly, he was a Martial Artist," a woman said, butting in their conversation. The lady's purple hair brushed against Suno's arm as she approached the two. "He was a strong kid - one of the best fighters in the World Martial Arts tournaments to ever exist."

It had almost slipped her mind that he also managed to best the best assassin in the world - Tao Pai-Pai. Hearing about that solely made her want to not mess with the kid, but those she worked for kept on pushing and pushing until it all blew up in their face.

"You knew him, too?" Pocawatha asked.

She nodded with a smile. "Of course."

"How did you know him?" Pocawatha asked. "What's your name?"

"Violet," she answered. Knowing very well that the Red Ribbon Army held a bad reputation, Violet wasn't going to dare disclose of her former occupation. Instead, she believed it to be in her best interests to keep her pass vague and under the radar. Still, it wasn't as if she was giving off pure vibes of serenity.

Suno couldn't figure why, but she felt uneasy around Violet. The fact that she was apart of the Red Ribbon Army that terrorized her people at one point would make that reason obvious to her if she had known, though being in the dark, Suno could only wonder if there was something about her. Violet was one of the very first women who had been rounded up in this little sanctuary, as most people referred to it, but Violet never appeared to be depressed or gloomy like much of the women here. Suno even often saw her talking to some people and consoling those who allowed her to. But still, out of all the people she saw looking upset, Violet didn't seem to be one of them.

It was her smile that put her off.

It didn't look like that of sharing any kind of memories.

But that of a sinister confidence.

"Remember," Violet said as she began to walk off. "We're in this together."

Despite her questionable past, Violet couldn't even consider herself being on the side of the bad guys now. No, she had already played a role in causing enough suffering and pain unto others as she aided the Red Ribbon Army. Though unbeknownst to Suno and Pocawatha about her past, the manner in which Violet walked off radiated nothing but sheer confidence.

Being in a place like this meant that next to nobody had any confidence...yet she did.

It made a lot of people wonder why.

* * *

A loud, banging knock at the window of Vegeta's pod ended the prince's short-lived beauty sleep. Nappa was right behind the glass, pointing up with his finger at something above. He backed away as Vegeta opened his pod to step out. The Saiyan prince left his scouter inside his pod and signalled for Nappa to do the same.

Looking above, he and Nappa spotted the ships that Freeza gave out flying just above as the there were cargo aircrafts native to the people of Planet Tech Tech arriving in single lines. In the cars, Vegeta sensed the presence of a plethora of Tech Tech aliens as well as the Ginyu Force and the others.

"Looks like they've done their job," Vegeta observed. "I wonder what's next."

The cargo with the people rounded up touched down on land as the valuables of the planet were being placed into Freeza's ship by Avo, Cado, and the Ginyu Force. Dodoria, Zarbon, Cui, and Shisami landed in the vehicles they drove with the people they managed to round up across several cities in the matter of minutes.

As cargo was being loaded up and people are being forced out, Freeza decided to finally make his grand appearance. Up in the sky, from the very top of the tyrant's ship, a freefalling sight had occurred. Vegeta and Nappa could feel it and already knew who it was. Vegeta closed his eyes before he could see the end result.

Tarble landed right before them, forming a mini crater. His clothing, or lack thereof, was painted with the color of his own blood as a brown furry tail was wrapped completely around his throat so tight that his tailbone was being pulled on with even the slightest bit of movement, rendering him powerless to do anything. His tiny bits of breath seemed more like wheezing for oxygen than anything. It wouldn't shock anyone if he died in the next five minutes.

The sight even startled the likes of Zarbon, Dodoria, and Cui. For years they had always worked closely alongside Freeza and they often knew he didn't tolerate much. When tested, Freeza would simply cease one's existence with the gift of swift death. Never before had they witnessed him torture anyone, nor had they seen the results of such. Leaving everyone to their imagination from what he could have possibly dead struck fear into the hearts of those who were already terrified of the universal emperor.

Freeza made sure that enough of the natives saw the sight of their trusted protector to fall down in such horrible fashion. The message was sent and it was sent strong and quick.

"Please forgive the excess display of blood and bruises," Freeza announced to the people of Tech Tech. As his lips curled, his tone of voice went from high and sincere to low and menacing. "I did try my very best to hold back my punches."

The whimpering silence from the multitude of weaklings brought smiles to the face of the most heartless members of the Freeza Force, except for Nappa and Vegeta.

"Even the damn Saiyans, throughout their luxurious years of tenure under my rule, had never retaliated toward me in such a manner!" Freeza hissed. "The one race to be my most promising pool of subjects had never even dared to resort to such futile, bodacious, untenable actions!" Everyone's eyes looked to the beaten and shivering brother of Vegeta as he lied there in a small pool of blood. "This man you deemed your savior couldn't even stand toe to toe with my elite, much less myself!"

Freeza's index finger moved from the direction of Tarble to the audience before him. One by one, he shot through the brains and hearts of innocent people - those who didn't even have anything to do with the major revolt that transpired as of recent. It was apparent that Freeza didn't care, though. He had already sent the message to them, but he wanted it to stick.

Once well over three hundred bodies dropped in the span of seconds, Freeza stopped.

Managing to relieve himself of frustration with the sweet present of murder, Freeza let out a sigh. He put his hands behind his back, cleared his throat, and made sure to change his tone of voice to that of a more friendly one before he continued to speak.

"I know my organization and your people have had simple business in the past - a small negotiation here - a small favor there; your people has serviced me in minor ways and I made sure to stay out of your way as a result." His eyes then narrowed. "But actions bring a reaction...and reactions are full of consequences from the former. From this moment on, you will be working directly for the Freeza Force! In return, you will be given profit, but this world will never be what it once was. I'll see to that personally." He clapped his hands together as he bowed slightly. "So...any objections?"

Nothing but silence. Not even Tarble could be heard wheezing for air or crying.

Once ten full seconds of silence passed, Freeza smiled. "Very well, then. I am glad to be able to do busi-"

A ki blast right from the middle of the audience crushed Freeza right in the face, breaking his scouter as soon as the blast made contact. Opening his eyes as he remained still, Freeza's devilish stare caused the faint of heart to pass out on sight.

The sheer audacity of the single-minded simpleton to remain hidden and attack him. Freeza was livid, but he didn't show it - though so livid that he couldn't hear the stifled chuckles of Vegeta, who was right behind him.

"HEY!" Dodoria yelled at the top of his lungs. "WHIC-"

"Shut up," Freeza said.

Dodoria shut up.

He then put his hand out. "Give me your scouter."

Dodoria didn't need to be asked twice. He removed his scouter and tossed it over to Freeza.

The tyrant grabbed it and adjusted it over his left eye properly.

"Ginyu," Freeza called in. "Are you almost done with the cargo?"

" _Just finished organizing everything, Lord Freeza. We about to leave?"_

"Yes. Get to your ships this instant and head off to whatever assignments I swayed you away from."

He then cut the reception. Freeza took a deep breath and let a deep one out. Had he been an angry author instead of a tyrant, he'd be a literary god of building anticipation and tension for nobody knew what to expect from him.

"All of you enter into my ship. Have it ready to depart from this world."

Freeza's men all left, save for Vegeta and Nappa. He looked over his shoulder, glanced at Tarble, and signaled for them to leave without even moving.

Vegeta grabbed Tarble by his collar and tossed him over to Nappa. The bald Saiyan was beginning to disagree with having to ride with Tarble over to a Freeza Planet, but a simple glare from Vegeta ended his verbal protest before it began.

Once the two Saiyans and everyone left, Freeza engulfed himself in purple aura, shaking the grounds of Planet Tech Tech and causing everyone to fall over on their behinds. Buildings around them crumbled to pieces. The sheer tension coming from Freeza's power darkened the skies and formed black clouds. The more he powered up, the more that everything around the natives started to rumble. Lightning struck and thunder claps seemed to be incessant in mere seconds.

The rain that streamed down Freeza's face could be mistook for tears due to the look of unadulterated hatred plastered on his face.

He was going to show them not to mess with him.

Everyone fell over once Freeza shot off into the sky in a blur.

"You think he's going to make it?" Nappa asked over the scouter.

Before Freeza made his unworldly ascension far above the clouds of Planet Tech Tech, Nappa and Vegeta were already out of the world's stratosphere, though close enough to see it out of the corner of their eye as they travelled away to the nearest Freeza Planet.

"Do you have him in life support to withhold him until we arrive?" Vegeta replied.

"Well, yeah...but this entire set up is uncomfortable as hell, Vegeta. I mean, I don't have any room at a-"

"Deal with it."

Just as he was beginning to cut the reception, the pods of Vegeta and Nappa had a bright glow show through their glass. The two of them pressed their noses and faces against the glass to see Planet Tech Tech being destroyed by Freeza.

"What in the name of-"

Vegeta's eyes were so wide that they could roll out at practically any second. It was fireworks like they had never seen. An entire planet, destroyed by the sole power of Freeza himself.

Vegeta only knew of one person who was capable of such feats, though he had long forgotten about him and drowned that person to a place where his mind never wandered. But this?

Feeling Freeza's power upon landing there was enough of a reason as to hold on to his goal of obtaining immortality, but this feat reminded him of why he needed that wish more than anything else in the world; it reminded him of why just getting stronger through common combat just wasn't going to cut it. Freeza was a person that Vegeta got to see more than most people had ever spoken of him, and there were still hundreds of things he didn't know about the ruler.

And the fact that it took a supernova from Freeza to blow it up...it made Vegeta wonder.

Could a meteorite truly bring an entire planet - no matter its size - to be wiped from the face of the Universe in such a manner? Vegeta had been the cause of planetary destruction before, but solely while he was on it. When he did destroy a planet, it took a while for it to eventually blow up as lava geysers popped up and spread. Never did he think a mere mortal would be capable of doing it above a world's stratosphere and within the blink of an eye. Hell, he didn't even know that there were species capable of breathing without any difficulty.

Sitting his back against the cushion of his pod, Vegeta removed his scouter and let it drop to the floor as he rubbed his temple. He ignored Nappa calling out for him through the device and he started to take deep breaths.

This was just another thing that was going to stay floating into his mind until something clicked.

He just didn't know what, yet.


	6. New Addition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Freeza assigns Vegeta the task of properly training Tarble to fit in his organized empire as a cold blooded killing machine, but Vegeta has other plans; Bulma has to deal with the fact that everyone's moments of security and happiness is bound to come to an end.

With Earth being left unattended courtesy to Vegeta and Nappa, the planet appeared vastly different in a number of ways; ruined cities started to show small growths of rainforests as a multitude of birds scavenged all the areas, working and fighting amongst another to survive.

The skies were pristine clear, allowing the stars to shine even brighter during the night, and the air was going through a process to refresh itself, which meant a much more pleasing aroma.

Also, now that the people of Planet Earth were no longer able to progress like they were, that meant no longer would there be any possibilities of being able to detect extraterrestrial life approaching their world.

A plethora of ships arrived on Earth. As soon as the ships landed, all the men and women of various different species exited with gas masks to breathe a much fresher source of oxygen.

The 16 ships that landed all consisted of five people each. The leader was a shark with two humanoid legs and arms and various scars across his face. He and everyone else dawned casual baggy clothes though they wore scouters that they received from the Freeza Force as well, since they were hired for this assignment after all.

The shark looking male had a clipboard in hand and a pen attached to said clipboard. Everyone else were outside their ships, waiting patiently as he checked off some things first.

He clicked a button on his mask, disabling its function prior to removing it so that he could get a whiff of the air all around him. It was nothing but a handful of seconds that he required before he marked a couple things off his checklist as he took notes.

_Air: Hospitable_

"You may all remove your masks if you wish," he announced to his associates. Most people did when the green light was given, though some preferred to keep theirs on, which wasn't a problem.

"Ohhh lala!" one of the women moaned after removing her mask. "Not often you get to smell air as fresh as this!"

The leader crouched down and poked at the dirt a bit before pinching the soil off the land and tasting it. He smacked his lips a bit as he moved his tongue all around his mouth. The taste wasn't bad, though it wasn't the best indication as to if the soil was good or not. Regardless, given that the soil was insanely green and the sun beat hard on their backs, he had to give Earth's soil the benefit of the doubt. Subsequent to spitting it out, he wrote down more notes.

_Potential for Cultivation: Definite_

"The air and soil pass with flying colors," he mumbled to himself. Still, just because the two main things they check after landing were good didn't mean the planet was pricey. They still needed to test other resources like the planet's natural water and see if any valuable were left behind and gauge just how useful they'd be before they could give off a price.

It wasn't often that they checked prices for planets in such a manner as the way they went about checking out Earth would be considered a very old school procedure. Usually, Freeza would have his own scout machines and minimal personnel employed to price worlds, but this was different for reasons unknown to the men and women he hired. As far as they were concerned, this was a job, and they were going to do it as they were meant to.

"Alright, guys and gals! You know the routine! Everyone get in their ships. Each of us will be checking in different sections and looking for anything useful. Remember: be safe. You come across anything, use your scouter before you do, say, or even look at anything. We good?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Alright!" He smacked his clipboard. "Let's get to it, then."

The veteran and leader of all 80 individuals took it upon himself to check out West City. The aroma of burned bodies had long disappeared and started to be replaced by a misty, plant-like scent.

His personnel's ship landed smack dab in the middle of West City right across from its most popular building. So far, it was genuinely easy to tell that this world wasn't nearly as advanced as other great prospects out in the galaxy due to their infrastructure and the roads that they had made. They didn't even seem far advanced in off-road vehicular flight, which was a common thing in multiple worlds.

"Everyone check the stores and all other areas."

The leader of the crew had his eyes on West City's famous Capsule Corp. The fact that of all the other infrastructure in the area, it looked the most important, meant that there could be something of great value that the place had to offer.

But he couldn't be more wrong.

Pictures were taken off walls. Dressers were torn apart; every room was checked and there didn't seem to be a damn thing that would come out to be somewhat valuable. Frustrated, the humanoid shark scoffed as he held a firm grip on his clipboard.

" _Everything is empty, sir,"_ a man reported over the scouter. " _I've got countless groups checking stores and homes. Apart from a bit of wardrobe, there isn't any food or water, just insignificant accessories if you ask me."_

That was odd. If they were never able to find anything, it would usually be because someone's still alive and surviving off what was left or because items had been wrecked during a purge.

Thinking about what his associate told him, there were still clothes and other meaningless items still in the stores and homes. But in the Capsule Corp building? Apart from furniture, practically everything was empty - gone. His eyes narrowed as his nose started to twitch.

Something was up.

Raising his hand to his scouter, he clicked the device and started to scan the entire area. He didn't get a reading for a solid half hour as he walked every single square inch until he managed to locate one that was directly at the bottom of his foot.

He was back in the laboratory of Capsule Corp. Under his foot was a mat. He stepped off the mat and focused on what he was looking at until he recognized a small budge from underneath. Without second thought, the temporary employee of Freeza lifted the mat up to find that there was a small hatch. Slowly, he started to put two and two together.

Sure enough, he came to this world under the notion that all indigenous life had been wiped out. He knew who exactly the planet was being bought by, but that wasn't information he truly cared about. At the end of the day, as long as he got paid, he was fine.

His scouter started to pick up even more power-levels down below as he walked closer to the entrance. All the power-levels from inside were all synonymous to each others', ranging from 1 to 4. The thought of opening the hatch occurred to him, but then again, for all he knew, they could have been wild animals capable of ending his life at a second's notice. After all, he was no fighter. Though it was his job to check over every room, he wasn't going to chance it.

"When everything is going swell for me, there is always that one mysterious thing that will mess it up. But hell no, not this time." He covered the hatch up with the mat and decided to leave it be. And if the rest of the planet was to be anything like how things were turning out so far, they wouldn't make very much anyway given the lack of valuables left over. There could be a group of people surviving underground now with what they had, and for him, an intruder, to go in there, could potentially seal a one way ticket to the afterlife. The little bit of money he was going to make off this backwater planet just wasn't worth it in his eyes.

* * *

Tarble was just minutes away from death despite being placed on life support subsequent to his brutal punishment from Freeza. The reflection of Vegeta and Nappa were visible to the naked eye after they had just managed to put Tarble in a healing tank after they finally touched base. The juices that made up the rejuvenation chamber got to work quickly as it seeped its way into Tarble's pores. Certain marks and scratches were already disappearing, but there would be scars left on him - reminders.

Hopefully Vegeta could use this as some form fuel for Tarble helping them along their mission of ultimately dethroning Freeza.

Nappa knew that it was best for him to be quiet whenever Vegeta was unresponsive to him over the scouter while they were travelling to the nearest Freeza Planet to get Tarble back to proper health. From the moment the two Saiyans got out of their pods, none of them spoke a single word to one another.

Vegeta always had a knack to be swimming in his own thoughts, but nowadays he was more commonly quiet than usual - so much that it seemed as if he was drowning in mental monologue. The blank stare Vegeta had as he watched the only family he had left being healed from near death sent a shiver up Nappa's spine.

The bald Saiyan decided to break the ice...as he always did in moments like these.

"With Raditz's brother, and your brother...you think that there might actually be more survivors out and about?"

That was a question Vegeta had already considered. Nappa didn't think of Kakarot's timely departure as nothing more but a mere coincidence and maybe even sheer luck. But for Prince Tarble to still be alive? The thought of there being more Saiyans out there really started to eat at his mind. Just maybe it wouldn't be so difficult to make a new race of warriors after all.

But Vegeta, in reality, couldn't care less. Saiyan or not, if they weren't furthering his goal for immortality and the downfall of Freeza, then he wouldn't even consider wasting time to go searching for others when he could be using that time to service himself.

"Perhaps," Vegeta answered Nappa. "It doesn't matter, though. There can be one hundred other Saiyans spread out, but I highly doubt that any of them could be within the realm of strength that you, Tarble, and I hold."

" _And knowing Freeza, he's probably out looking for more to bring back under his belt."_

"Even Kakarot's, huh?" Nappa asked, referring to the Saiyan's power on Earth.

Vegeta scoffed. "That lower-class disgrace needed training in the afterlife to even touch my level. Don't compare him to us."

"Yeah, right." Nappa rubbed his head. "So, how are you?"

Vegeta looked at Nappa with a brow raised. "What do you mean, _how am I_? Do I look sick to you or something?"

"N-No, I-I mean…" Nappa took a quick look over his shoulder to ensure nobody was in earshot of them. "seeing Tarble beaten down like that must have had yo-"

"AS IF!" Vegeta cut Nappa off. The fact that Nappa even believed Vegeta would feel a single bit of sympathy, which in his eyes, was weakness, made his stomach want to cough up everything from the inside out. The first born prince quickly regained his composure and crossed his arms. "No, Nappa. This is good for him."

Nappa was on the verge of asking why, but kept his mouth closed. He understood exactly what Vegeta meant; Nappa's lips curled into a smile as he got his superior's point. "Ah, yeah, that sunnuva bitch's power is gonna skyrocket by the time he's fully healed, ain't it?"

Glad he managed to change the topic and get Nappa to understand why he wasn't even sad, Vegeta smiled as he nodded. "Exactly. Think about it; your power-level has surpassed that of 10,000 and I'm a few thousand units shy of 30,000. Tarble appeared before us with a battle-power of 6,000, which in itself was a feat that only my father could scoff at during his time. And with the new power he's going to have by the time he's fully recuperated, We'll b-"

"Be an entire team of top-tier, elite soldiers!" Nappa finished, interrupting him.

Vegeta, though initially put off by Nappa's abrupt interruption, felt more inclined to correct his subordinate on one thing. "Not quite an entire team of elite soldiers."

"Huh? But Tarble's power-level is sure to ecli-"

"Tarble could be stronger than me, but what's holding him back from truly being elite is his mindset and the way he carries himself with." Just reliving those moments where Tarble pleaded to be spared made Vegeta want to cut off Tarble's healing process and end him out of sheer embarrassment, but he ignored his irrational, impulsive urges. "He's too kind," Vegeta continued. "He has the power of an elite while he possesses the mentality of a lower-class engineer from back home."

"So we have to get rid of the latter," Nappa concluded.

"Ditto."

Just then, both Saiyans got a ping over their scouters.

Zarbon's voice over the scouter was brief and to the point.

"Report to Lord Freeza _as soon as possible."_

The veterans of Freeza's Force already knew the drill. Without as much as continuing their conversation, Vegeta and Nappa walked off.

With Tarble around, it meant that Vegeta would have to go about things just a tad bit differently. He didn't expect to have a liability on his shoulders now as it was more than enough of a burden having to keep Nappa on a short leash, but with proper guidance, maybe Tarble could be broken out of his soft ways. It, after all, was the only way that he'd be more of an asset than anything contrary.

From the moment that Nappa and Vegeta entered Freeza's main office, the latter of the two Saiyans noticed the smug looks on the faces of Dodoria and Zarbon. He almost forgot that they were there with him on Planet Tech Tech until he observed the obnoxious smiles that were so exxagerated that they almost came off as perverted. Freeza's two officers relished the fact that Vegeta saw his little brother in such a vulnerable stat, though the Saiyan prince expressed how little he cared with his indifferent attitude.

"Greetings, Lord Freeza," Vegeta said softly as he and Nappa got down on one knee.

"Greetings." Freeza's hover chair slowly turned around. With a simple gesture of the hand, Vegeta and Nappa were non-verbally signalled to be relieved of being on one knee. Given what had just taken place, it would be best for them to tread rather carefully, so Vegeta knew that he had to be on his super best behaivor and watch how he interacted with Freeza even regarding the slightest of movements. The tyrant didn't appear as if he was in a pleasant mood, so he and everyone else were already off to a disadvantage, but he's been through this more than enough already.

"Vegeta, I understand your perspective when it comes to being a soldier, and I must commend you, despite your young age compared to most soldiers here, you are one of the best to ever do it. I wish for you to know that it was not of my intention for you to see your sibling be humiliated in such a manner. Please do understand that my only objective was to make a firm point...before that all blew up in smoke."

"No need for apologies," Vegeta responded. He knew the bastard couldn't care less, so he got that out of the way to show it didn't really matter to him. "Business is business."

"Your practical mindset is something that must have rubbed off on you thanks to me," Freeza observed. "But speaking of business, there are also some businessmen on Earth as we speak at this moment. They should be done within a few months at the very most as they accumulate the prerequisite details prior to the planet's availability for purchase."

"And what would you have us do in the meantime?"

The thought of a few more easy assignments came across Vegeta's mind. Sure, fighting was fun, but given what he had mapped out, he hoped that planetary assignments could be put on the backburner for now. From his years of serving Freeza, Vegeta had always been the most consistent when it came to global assaults. Once one was done, he was onto the next unless told to slow down. Sure enough, Freeza would allow him some slack given his performance over the years, but he didn't want to test the waters just yet.

"Well…" Freeza rubbed his chin. "I do not happen to have any on the list as of the moment - at least not the ones for your caliber." That brought a bit of relief toward Vegeta but he still kept his mouth shut and his ears open. Freeza's eyes lit up as he got his attention back toward the Saiyan. "Have you checked on your brother yet?"

"We just put him in a healing chamber."

"Ah, wonderful." Freeza started to pace around the room in his floating chair. "If you don't mind my inquiry, how come you haven't gone out in search of your brother like your late subordinate, Raditz?"

"I wasn't sure whether or not he survived, so I betted on not wasting my time."

Vegeta's eyes rolled at the iconic exaggerated sigh from Zarbon, indicating that he was going to put his two cents in on the conversation. "I do find it quite odd that your father, the king, would send him off like some lower-class trash despite him having such a high battle-power."

"Eh, that's a good point," Dodoria agreed. "I mean, he's nowhere near Vegeta's level, but he's strong in his own right. Had we just continued sending basic reinforcements, half our army would cease to exist."

"It had nothing to do with his power," Vegeta began to explain. "It's always been his mindset. The sons of the strongest Saiyan at the time are bound to have great power cut above the rest as they age, but Tarble wasn't suited for battle because of how he was. He proved to be an embarrassment to the royal name, so father sent him off. It's as simple as that."

"But had he been fighting alongside you and your crew, surely he'd be even stronger and managed to break out of his mindset, no?" Freeza's tail started to twirl around, showing the curious nature in his innocent question.

"He'd be the second strongest on my team, without a doubt," Vegeta admitted to Freeza. "I don't know about him breaking out of his weak shell, though. He'd be better off as a common worker if you ask me."

"Well that's too bad because I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror if I dared allow such potential to go to waste."

Vegeta's lip almost twitched.

"Effective immediately, your brother is on your crew. He will fight for me and work for me by fighting and working alongside you and Nappa. He won't be some common worker like the rest of the weaklings are. Tarble's power is too valuable an asset to be gone to waste, Vegeta. I figured you had realized that by now."

"Are you suggesting we train him?" Nappa asked.

"Yes, and no," Freeza answered, much to the bewilderment of the two Saiyans. "He already knows how to fight as evident by the few dozen soldiers he's killed without much effort. But, going back to what Vegeta said earlier, about his mindset; I want that refurbished, strengthened, hardened, and reinforced. The way I see it, Vegeta - and I do say this respectfully - your father is an idiot. He didn't take the time out to properly guide the boy into the proper warrior he would have become had he took the time out to actually show him the ropes as normal fathers tend to do, and so he allowed him to waste so many precious years on some world that hindered his strength and the primal instinct that a true Saiyan soldier possesses deep down inside. Your assignment for now is to train him and mold him into what you two are."

"And what are we exactly?"

Freeza smiled. "My loyal pets, who will do as I tell them; for if you are unable to train him out of that feeble mindset that you claim him to have, then I will ultimately have no choice but to kill him because someone with so much power just simply can't be working like a commoner. That would make me look incompetent."

"And that's all we have to do?" Vegeta asked.

Freeza nodded. "Yes. You have a month's time."

For Vegeta, this was perfect. He knew how Freeza loved to operate, so as long as Vegeta and Nappa didn't interfere with Freeza's business in any way, then they could do as they pleased as long as it benefitted in Tarble becoming the heartless soldier he aimed him to convert him into.

They could go to Earth and get started on other business, as well as manage the assignment given to them, all the while figuring out how they are going to make moves for Planet Namek.

"Then you have nothing to worry about at all."

* * *

After their conversation with Freeza, Vegeta and Nappa left off to kill time through stuffing their faces in the mess hall, cleaning themselves up, and getting some entertainment from the drunk soldiers back in the mess hall. As much as the Saiyans loved to fight, Nappa and Vegeta did gather entertainment from inebriated buffoons tagging in physical altercation just to boost their own ego.

Approximately an hour and a half had passed since Tarble was placed in the tank.

Once the healing sequence was complete, Tarble's eyes shot open as the water started to drain. He rammed his hand against the hard glass, breathing deeply through the oxygen masked attached to his face. His eyes were blinking rapidly as his heart rate accelerated; he had no idea where the hell he was.

"Just give me a moment, mister….Tarble, is it?"

The doctor watching over Tarble pressed a few buttons on the monitor of the rejuvenation chamber. Shortly after, the stiff wires attached to Tarble's body loosened, which allowed him to remove them from his body.

Once he regained his composure, Tarble waited for the tank to open so that he could step out. Growing up in a civil society made Tarble think differently than most in the Freeza Force, so for him to be around a complete stranger while nude made him instinctively cover his private area with his tail twirled up in a circle to hide it.

The voice of the doctor greeting him and bringing him up to date on his well being fell on deaf ears. Once Tarble's eyes locked onto the clothes put out for him, he started to get dressed.

The sight of scars going across his arms and shoulders as he put on his clothes made him freeze.

He, like everyone else, heard stories of the Freeza Force. That was always a terrifying thing, but the devil himself was much more than that. Myths and legends were made out of Freeza - legends that made even the most noble individuals shudder. So when Tarble got a good look at the tyrant for the first time, he was far more petrified than he thought he'd ever be. So many people made Freeza out to be some gigantic monster - a dinosaur amongst a universe of ants. But for such stories to be told about someone of his stature...it said a lot.

And Tarble remembered every moment he was victim to him.

Every single second of it.

Alas, he had lost much more than his own dignity that day. The woman he had hoped to marry one day was taken away from him prematurely.

Once finished dressing himself in his new set of armor, Tarble went to grab the scouter on the table. A white glove came from behind and prevented him from even touching the device.

"You won't be needing that," Vegeta told him.

Tarble yanked his arm away from Vegeta and turned around, scowling. He didn't understand how Vegeta could watch him be humiliated in such a manner and even be the one to try and render him the finishing blow. In his eyes, Vegeta was more of a traitor than what he was claiming him to be when he first touched down on his home.

"Calm yourself," Nappa warned Tarble.

"Or what?" Tarble hissed.

Nappa took a little step back and started chuckling. "Oh, feeling snappy now, aren't we? Go ahead and try me, your highness!"

"Enough games." Vegeta glared daggers at the doctor in the room, filling him up with so much fear that he left his own work place. The elder prince then proceeded to walk by the door, press a few buttons, and close the automatic doors shut.

Tarble crouched down a bit and wrapped his tail around his waist.

It became apparent by his body language that he was expecting to be attacked, but Vegeta intended on shutting down that thought process real quick. "Drop the attitude or get dropped. I'm not here to kill you."

"Why? Not as easy when I'm looking you in the eye, is it?"

Vegeta didn't have the patience for talkback. They had business to take care of and it needed to be done ASAP. Tarble didn't realize what happened until his back started to ache from being shoved against the wall across the room. "Listen here and listen well!"

Vegeta quickly twitched his neck as he lowered his voice. Nappa, getting the message, grabbed the scouter provided for Tarble on the counter and crushed it to pieces with his bare hands.

"What in the wo-"

Vegeta punched the wall behind Tarble to shut him up.

"Big brother's doing the talking now, so use less your mouth and more of your ears."

Tarble's murderous stare in return to Vegeta's indignant demeanor didn't go unnoticed. Vegeta could feel the power building up from inside his younger sibling and despite being much stronger than him, Tarble was capable of putting up as much of a fight as Nappa - at least as far as he could tell.

Vegeta continued to speak in a low, aggressive tone as his nose was mere inches from touching Tarble's.

"I know what it's like losing a planet that you've grown at least somewhat attached to, but right now you do not have time to dwell on that, understand me? Here in this world, only the strong survive and you've been lucky enough that Freeza has allowed you life so that you one day will get to exact your revenge."

"R-Revenge?"

Vegeta was pleased at the fact that Tarble was still listening with intent even though he was enraged. At least he could still see some reason when even upset.

"Yes, revenge. You think we Saiyans are just going to allow ourselves to remain subject to him for the rest of our lives?" Vegeta chuckled sinisterly. "Oh, no. See, Nappa and I have made some fine discoveries to give us the power to take down Freeza for good. Right now, we're just playing the long game. And as much as I hate to get you involved, you're in the middle of what's going on behind closed doors now."

Nappa stood in the back with his arms crossed, slightly disappointed that he didn't at least have a minor brawl with Tarble, but he was content with the second prince knowing of their true intentions.

"So he beats me down in front of everyone before he slaughters my people - adding more bodies on top of those that you've helped him with? Is that what you call playing the long-game?"

Vegeta backed up, shaking his head in disgust. He had to catch himself from correcting Tarble about how the people he cohabitated with weren't _his people_ , but he didn't want to waste time on trying to correct Tarble's irreversible sentiments for those feeble idiots. "We do what we must. Follow us."

The three Saiyans happen to get a few looks here and there as they now have a new addition to the team - an addition with pretty much the same face as Vegeta. Through walking the corridors, Tarble had time to cool off and think to himself. Though he was still livid, he knew better than to act out - especially around Freeza's organization. Besides, if his brother was telling the truth, then just maybe he didn't have any intentions of him being killed all along. Could it all have been an act back on Tech Tech?

Tarble wouldn't doubt it.

"So, what is it that you guys have planned exactly?"

"We'll explain later."

Just as they were making a turn, the sight of long-black pants and purple skin made Vegeta roll his eyes instinctively. The sight of Tarble brought Cui to giving Vegeta a round of applause as he approached the three Saiyans.

"Glad to see you're alive and well," Cui said. "That beating from Lord Freeza must have been something memorable; I'm honestly surprised he didn't just rip off your tail and choke you with it."

Tarble clenched his fists as his eyes had a newly lit fire from within.

"Oh, I haven't seen a look like that in years!" He then placed his attention on Vegeta. "It's been a while since you were that mad at me, hasn't it?"

"Out of our way." Vegeta pushed Cui aside and began to walk off.

While they were a few yards ahead, Cui decided to get the last word in. "I don't see why Lord Freeza would want you training him if he was born a weakling and grew up on a planet full of 'em! Seems counterproductive if you ask me!"

It was almost as if Tarble's Saiyan blood spiked ten times over. It was bad enough that he was going through such a transition in life under the circumstances of his brother almost killing him, so he didn't need any more bullshit, especially from some lackey of Freeza's. The second Saiyan prince turned around to render Cui a nice fist across the face, but Vegeta caught his arm before he could take a step closer.

One stern look was all it took for Tarble to pipe down.

Cui laughed as he walked away. "Having to train so many pets must be stressful!" He waved off at them as he turned the corner. "Remember, little one - your brother's power is rivaled by mine! You wouldn't be able to harm me in a million years! Ahahahaha!"

Once Cui's echoing laughter died out, Tarble snatched his own arm from Vegeta's grasp. Though completely unfamiliar with this new territory, he started to walk ahead of Vegeta and Nappa as if he knew the map of this base like the back of his hand.

"You should have let him have a go at the fish face," Nappa said. "I'd have put him in his place for you."

"Soon enough, Nappa...just not now."

"I don't understand how you can put up with that."

"Knowing I can crush him with my boot under a full moon is enough for me to keep my composure," Vegeta answered Tarble. "You're going to have to learn to keep your emotions in check." As they neared the exit, Vegeta brushed past Tarble to lead them.

But after a few seconds of leading, Vegeta came up to a stop. He looked directly for where their pods would usually be lined up for travel, only to see that there weren't any. The Saiyan turned around, only to receive a shrug from Nappa and an indifferent response from Tarble.

The pattering of a jogging commoner caught their attention. A man in armor approached Vegeta as he saluted them. "Mr. Vegeta, sir, I see you are looking for your form of transporation, correct?"

"Why else would we be here?" Nappa asked.

"Lord Freeza has assigned you all your own ship." He pointed to his right, where a couple of workers were filling up the ship with bags of supplies that consisted of armor, as well as necessary resources such as food. "We already have the ship programmed for the planet that you'll be buying - there are men there still scouting price value, but they should be there by the time you are ready."

"Sounds good. Let's go."

The only one excited to be inside something different was Nappa and he didn't fail in expressing as much. The big, bald Saiyan was checking the back room of the ship and howled in excitement at what he saw.

"Ah, man! A fridge and a couple beds!" He chuckled. "I say it's about time we get an upgrade!"

Vegeta just sighed. That meant that he would actually have to force himself to sleep instead of relying on suspended animation to enter a hibernated state. He'd much rather prefer a pod, but figured this would do. With the press of a button, the hatch to the ship closed and it began to take off.

"I'll keep it in auto-pilot at top speed," Tarble told the two. He got in the driver's seat and started to go over a few options that the ship provided. "I'll also be sure to watch out for meteor showers."

"Good." Vegeta folded his arms as he fell into his seat and put his legs onto the dash. "Making yourself useful the first chance you get - that's what I like to see."

Mere seconds had passed and they were already out of the planet's stratosphere on their way to their destination. Looking at the coordinates, he decided to check for extra info on the planet that they were going to. He assumed that this was a planet that they were going to purge, but once he saw confirmation that the task had already been carried out, he grew curious.

"What are we going to Earth for?"

Nappa, while in the back of the ship on the bed, busted out laughing. "You gonna tell him or am I, Vegeta?"

Vegeta had his eyes closed and didn't really want to make up much conversation, but that was going to be quite hard since he was directly next to these people. "It's our new planet. There used to be a Saiyan survivor there, but we got rid of him and will be buying it for ourselves."

"I thought your job was to conquer planets and have them sold - not to conquer and buy."

"We have our reasons."

"Our days of working for Freeza are numbered now," Nappa reminded Tarble. "Earth has enlightened us in more ways than you could ever imagine."

"Please, do tell." Tarble was hoping that this was a good one. From what he could see, there was only one way out of Freeza's organization: death. If anyone's days of working for Freeza were numbered, then it usually meant that their final days of life was on the count down as well.

"Two things," Vegeta said as he raised two fingers. Still, he had his eyes closed. "Dragon Balls, and hybrids. Dragon Balls are a creation by Namekians that can grant any wish. There were some on Earth but things took a turn and now we will have to figure out how we'll go to Namek without garnering suspicion." After putting one finger down, he continued. "As for the hybrids...our immortality will allow us to breed and form a new era of Saiyans - Saiyans far stronger than what you could ever imagine. The legend of our people won't hold a candle to what our race will be in the next half century."

"We just might spawn the first Super Saiyan in centuries," Nappa added.

"Namekians? Wishes? Super Saiyans!? I-I thought those rumors were all fake."

Tarble then got to thinking. If such were true, then they could actually wish for other things - he could wish for his home back - for the woman he fell in love with to be in his arms again. He didn't mind Vegeta and Nappa having immortality as long as he could get his life back.

"Nothing's too good to be true now," Nappa told Tarble. "If Dragon Balls were said to be legend, then the Super Saiyan myth must be a reality as well. It only makes sense."

"I can understand wanting to have a new Saiyan race - even though you can just wish our people back - but immortality? I'd consider that more of a curse than anything."

"Not if we can take down that lizard Freeza and have the Universe as our eternal playground," Nappa replied.

Vegeta chuckled. He had to agree with with giant man on that one.

"But won't you get bored? I mean...when you're done doing everything that there is to do, there wouldn't be anything else to life that's exciting."

"Of course you'd say that," Vegeta scoffed. "An eternity of combat would entice any true Saiyan warrior. You'll understand eventually."

"But there won't be any fun when there's nothing out there to compete with you, won't it?"

Vegeta didn't have a response for that one. He, like any war-mongering soldier, loved to be able to humiliate his opponents in combat, but the battles he lived for were the ones that actually challenged him to some degree as it aided him in growing more powerful. With the inability to die, none would be able to kill him as he simply got more powerful, also meaning that the possibility of fighting anyone worthwhile would continue to decrease as he grew in power, which would in turn be the catalyst for battle to eventually become mundane.

"Good point."

"Hey, as long as I get to crush people, then I don't care!"

Such was an expected response from Nappa.

"So…" Tarble started. The annoyed growl from Vegeta made it obvious enough that he didn't want to chit-chat, but the younger prince still had to know. "Freeza didn't have me killed. Why?"

"Doesn't matter," Vegeta told him. "What matters right now is that we have a month's time of freedom for the time being. It'd be the perfect time to start the growth of the Saiyan people, wouldn't you agree?"

"A-Am I going t-"

Nappa already knew what he was going to ask before he finished his question. "DUH! I mean, what did you think? I'm sure Vegeta won't have you breed with any woman, but you have your part to play, too, ya know."

This was what got Tarble to just shut his mouth and stop asking questions. Nappa was the one to tell him to cheer up and that he was in for a fun ride, but Tarble wasn't buying it. He, like his older brother, crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he prepared to drift off to sleep. Yet still, like Vegeta, Tarble's mind was drowning in his own thoughts; sleeping for him wouldn't be an easy task considering the fact that all the people he grew to know and cherish was wiped away from him within the blink of an eye. The last memory of them was him lying down in a pool of his own blood before their frightened eyes. Worst of all, he felt Gure would never accept him for what he was getting into.

Vegeta wasn't a good person - Tarble knew that. He himself had killed innocents at a young age before being sent away, so killing wasn't something foreign to him. Still, he had a conscience, as well as morals, which was majorly why he had been sent off. But now? He no longer did he have a choice. Stuck with the only family he had left in a system where he had to die if he wanted freedom was now the only reason he was going to stick this one out - even if it did pain him.

Still, the tear rolling down his face was just him suppressing his feelings. Tarble just knew that he was going to hate this more than anything.

* * *

Nappa rested like a baby during their trip back to Earth. The two brothers struggled to sleep, but eventually the younger of the two was able to get some rest as he cycled between shifts of sleep and look-out for meteor showers. As for Vegeta, he didn't get much shut-eye; his mind had been grinding, working, forming circles, scheming - pretty much everything. If he were to stress any harder, he'd start growing grey strands on his head.

With Planet Earth's marvelous beauty in his sight, Vegeta smacked Tarble on the shoulder, rudely bringing him out of his sleep.

"We're here. Go wake Nappa."

Tarble's mouth went wide as he yawned. He hadn't travelled much throughout the years in fear of getting attention from Freeza, so his experience of star and planet gazing wasn't as fulfilled as Vegeta's. Earth was the most magnificent planet he had ever put eyes on. He didn't soak it up much though as he didn't want to annoy his impatient sibling. The younger prince walked over to Nappa, who was snoring like a lion.

Just under a minute later, Nappa came following Tarble from behind as he was rubbing his tired eyes. "We finally here?"

"Why else would I have Tarble wake you up?" Vegeta asked as he smacked his lips.

Tarble got back in the driver's seat and deactivated the auto-pilot sequence so that he could properly land the ship on Earth's territory. Once they were far enough in the atmosphere and going through puffy clouds, Tarble slowed the ship down and regained some control of it.

"I can sense a bunch of people in one area already," Nappa said. He took a few steps forward and pointed North of their location. "Head straight and keep descending as you go. We should meet up with the auction people eventually."

Tarble did as he was told. As the ship was lowering at a steady rate, Tarble asked, "How do you know they're there?"

"We can sense people's life energy without the need for scouters," Vegeta answered. "Something I intend on teaching you."

Tarble eyed Vegeta, who paid him no mind; yeah, he was sure that they were going to teach him a lot of things. As useful as being able to detect people without relying on a device that had the potential of malfunctioning. He imagined that was pretty much the only thing useful he was going to be taught by those two.

Once the Saiyans approached the 16 ships all within close proximity, it became obvious that the shark looking male was the one who led the party.

The presence of these Saiyans was something that most found daunting. They knew of their reputation and anything said about them could only be compared to sheer full course meals of antisocial personality disorders and brutality as dessert. The stone-cold looks on their faces as they approached them caused everyone to gulp hard.

Nappa had a few large sacks in his hands, which carried money.

Once Vegeta came to a stop, he just looked the man in the eye.

"Ahem. W-we were just getting ready to leave. See, the price usually isn't given out until Freeza is spoken to personally, but I see that things are obviously different with how you guys work."

Vegeta just cut to the chase. "And how much is this planet worth?" Nappa had to hold back his laughter as he towered over Vegeta. He knew for a fact that Earth was going to be perhaps the cheapest buy in history; since all the valuables were taken and most towns looking ran down, such was expected.

Vegeta watched as he tore a piece of paper from his clipboard and showed it to Vegeta. The Saiyan prince read over it quickly. He looked over his shoulder, smiling. "You don't even have to give him two bags of currency, Nappa. One will suffice."

"Heh! Alright!"

Nappa tossed the bag of money over.

"I can tell by the weight that I won't need to count it." Subsequent to tying the bag of jingling trinkets around his belt, he decided to change the subject. "And if you're keeping any animals for fun in that secret place that you have going on, then I suggest you find a better way to keep them from being detected." He tapped on his scouter that he had hanging from his belt alongside his bag of money.

Vegeta immediately knew what he was getting at, but went to playing stupid. "And what exactly are you implying?" Though a bad move, in order to keep his agenda secret, Vegeta wouldn't hesitate in murdering the clown and using practically anything or anyone as a scapegoat. All he had to do was give him a sign that he'd let it be known, and Vegeta would ensure that the shark be turned to an oversized dish of cooked tuna on the spot.

"I couldn't care less if you have animals or people down there for fun - really; I'm only in it for the money, and the money that this planet is sure to give me isn't even worth it to check every single spot. Couldn't care less, honestly." He turned around into his ship, waving off the Saiyans. "Nice doing business with you, gentlemen! Lord Freeza will be pleased."

Vegeta smirked. _"That's what I thought."_

* * *

Just only 300 women remained in the underground city, which was more than enough space for everyone. Those that starved themselves to death and found other methods of ending their world of torment made it far more spacious for those who didn't.

Bulma, Tights, Dr. Briefs, Mai, and Chi-Chi were all drinking a nice cup of coffee in the lab.

It had been officially over a month since Dr. Briefs and his youngest daughter started working on this project and it was a non-stop process. They didn't stop at just making sure they had proper, clean running water for the entire underground pathway, but solar charged lights, as well as maintenance robots that made sure to provide food to those who wanted, and automatic machines that cooked all kinds of meals. This wasn't even a tenth of what they had done in just a month's time. Dr. Briefs felt rather lucky he still had his daughter by his side to help him with this because he didn't know how anyone - no matter how intelligent they were - would get everything they worked on done in the restricted time frame they were given.

Bulma looked like a zombie; she hadn't slept in days, and neither had her father. The last week they had to make sure everything was in order was the very week that their hands did not stop moving. Even Tights had to pitch in despite not knowing a lick about technology, but she made sure to step in for her sister and her dad for the simple things whenever they appeared as if they were going to fall to the floor at any moment.

So, now Bulma was smoking a cigarette in her laboratory with her father as their voices during conversation toned down the mechanical whirring of the maintenance robots around them.

"And when I figured that these machines would actually not only help us, but everyone else, I got right to work. I wasn't going to stop until they were finished as well." Dr. Briefs sipped on his coffee. "I told Bulma that she should rest, but she wouldn't listen."

Tights let out a light chuckle. "That sounds just like her."

Bulma smiled meekly. Everyone was still grieving, but they seemed to be processing things better. She wanted to be happy for them, but she couldn't bring herself to feel genuinely okay. Looking at her father just carrying on their conversation casually as if his mind wasn't on the same issues at hers just left her in awe. How could he carry such guilt? She knew he wasn't a sociopath, much less a psycho. So what gave?

"Chi-Chi, are you sure you should be drinking coffee right now?" Tights asked.

Chi-Chi just took a sip. "Why?"

"Because…" Tights' eyes diverted to her belly.

Over the past month, it became obvious that Chi-Chi was growing a person inside of her, but she didn't seem to show much care at all. She allowed herself to be around second hand smoke with Bulma and her father, and she drank coffee and ate quite a bit of junk, which wasn't common from her.

Chi-Chi shook her head. "This is Son Goku's baby - it will be fine."

"That's a good point, actually," Dr. Briefs said. "Son Goku was the toughest cookie I ever met. It's a shame th-"

"It is," Chi-Chi cut him off. "As much as I love and miss that man, I can't just think about him all the time." She sniffed to hold back any tears. "A-And Gohan…" her voice weakly let out.

Everyone's expressions grew solemn and their silence became a much heavier conversation than when they were actually speaking.

But that silence was short-lived.

Pieces of glasses from inside their room were on the verge of shattering as they heard a myriad of screams coming from many women simultaneously. Dr. Briefs looked through the open door, as did Bulma. Bulma started to hyperventilate, falling off her chair and clutching at her chest. She knew what time it was - she knew this day was coming, yet reality was a much different punch than imagination could ever be.

"Bulma, are you okay!?" Tights crouched down to tend to her little sister. Bulma was gasping for air as her entire body trembled. She didn't need to say anything to show that she wasn't okay. The continuous screams coming from outside the door got Tights' attention. Slowly, she saw dozens of women backing themselves up against the wall right by her door.

"Stay here!" Dr. Briefs told Tights and Chi-Chi firmly. "I'll go check."

And by the time that first foot stepped out and he made that first turn, Dr. Briefs' almost fainted. There were more than just the two Saiyans he had seen, and the smaller one of the three looked just like the man who killed his wife.

Vegeta and Nappa looked around. There were lights on the roof and little rooms along the walls down a very, very, long hall. Upon coming through the only other entrance that was specifically made for him, he had to make a few turns just to get here.

"Looks nice and cozy in here," Nappa said through minor fits of chuckles.

The one who truly gave off fear was Nappa. Everyone in that room was familiar with them and the atrocious acts he committed; the trauma that he bestowed upon them was all coming back at once - ten fold. And to see he had two other men dressed similar to him was all they needed to know that this was long from over.

All of the women were grouped in together, clutching one another tightly as there were others who just hid in their own room from the very moment that they spotted Nappa walking down that hall. They just hoped it wasn't, but the sound of his voice made it apparent that this was all real.

The trembling and whimpering coming from them started to make the Saiyan prince agitated. "Enough of your whining, we aren't here to kill you - at least most of you anyway."

"Then explain," Violet said, stepping up.

Nappa's eyes glistened at the sight of her. "Ohh, Vegeta. Watch out for that one! She's got some spunk!"

Vegeta chuckled. "Allow me to enlighten you, then."

The Saiyan's eyes looked around the crowd. Of all the women there, he spotted one person different above the rest - a tall, muscular individual with a fro - a man to be exact. Mark's pupils dilated just seconds before his death. Vegeta's razor sharp, scorching beam pierced through his heart, grazing the shoulder of an individual right beside him.

Watching her husband's body drop dead made Miguel want to scream at the top of her lungs. It was the thought of her daughter that made her not react instinctively; she still had a duty to protect her only child. She stopped Videl from going through the crowd as soon as she saw her daddy on the ground, leaking blood. She covered Videl's mouth and looked to her right. Amongst all the bodies in her way, she managed to get a view of Bulma slowly getting back up.

Miguel, while ducking, shuffled her way through the crowd and into the room without going unnoticed - or so she thought. She only had one goal in mind: save her daughter.

Tarble saw the kid in her arms, but he didn't act by speaking up or taking care of it himself. He, in fact, looked away as if he didn't witness it at all.

"Now that I've got your attention, allow me to make myself very clear; we do not need any other men in here besides that scientist, me, and my subordinates! All of you from this day forth shall serve one purpose and one purpose only - to bare the next generation of warriors."

"Bullshit!" Mai growled, holding a weapon directly at Vegeta.

Dr. Briefs came running at Mai, jacking the shot-gun from her. Mai was getting ready to attack him, but a simple step forward from Nappa made her freeze.

"Please…" Dr. Briefs told her. "You, or anyone else...don't do anything to jeopardize any more lives. Just...just don't."

Tights and Chi-Chi both ran out the room.

"DAD!"

Nappa's gigantic hand covering the entire of Dr. Briefs' shoulder made the old man want to throw up on his feet. Chuckling, Nappa agreed with the old man. "I'd listen to him if I were you." He then reeled in Dr. Briefs' for a dominating hug. "We appreciate you making all of this for us, you know."

Vegeta started busting out laughing when he saw everyone stop shaking and just stare right at Dr. Briefs. With this distraction and Bulma able to act accordingly, she managed to help Miguel get her daughter out the secret entrance, but as soon as she heard that Dr. Briefs helped them, she screamed.

"PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN'T TRUE!"

Vegeta's mere presence alone was enough to shift people away as he approached the location of the high-pitched voice. Miguel had Bulma by the throat and her fist cocked back, ready to beat her to death.

"That's enough."

Miguel's grip softened and her throat dried up. "I-I...I can't believe…"

The fact that Bulma would go through all this trouble to set them up, yet also help her free her daughter was confusing. But still, she was the reason why they were all there. She manipulated them and stabbed them all in the back.

"WE DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!" Bulma shrieked.

"You always have a choice!" Violet snarled at her. "And you chose yourself over everyone else."

"It's either breed or die." Vegeta then shrugged. "In your shoes, probably not the best choices, but those are your picks."

Violet glared daggers at Vegeta, much to the Saiyan's amusement.

The ones who took this the hardest were those who trusted Bulma and her father the most: Chi-Chi, Tights, Mai, and even Pocawatha. They all knew each other in some fashion and it was due to prior familiarity that it was easy to establish some foundation of trust given the unprecedented circumstances that they were in.

But this betrayal. It came right from the backdoor - never would have anyone seen it coming.

"YOU EXPECT ME TO LET A BABY BE RAISED BY THEM!?" Chi-Chi hollered. "WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST LET ME BE, BULMA!" She then turned to face Dr. Briefs. "WHY!?"

Bulma, nor Dr. Briefs could look anyone in the eye. Though anger was soon to come, the feeling of hopelessness was what had all the women in there drowning in their sorrows. Some were crying as others were just silent and still. Only a handful were really able to function at some rate of normality.

"We haven't even started breeding yet and someone's expecting a child?" Nappa asked. "Isn't that Kakarot's wench?"

Chi-Chi's red face was so hot that it appeared as if her ears were starting to fume up. She took one step toward Nappa. "His." Then another. "Name." Then another. "Was." Then she finally got close to him, on her tippy toes, growling like an untrained wolf. "GOKU!" She then raised her hand. "AND I'M NO WEN-"

One smack was all it took to knock her down cold to the ground.

Vegeta scoffed. "You better hope that the baby isn't harmed because of your idiocy, Nappa! Tarble, go drag her to the nearest room. Since she's already having a kid, she will be exempt from our little game."

"G-Game?" Dr. Briefs shuddered. He believed he knew exactly what it was that he was referring to, but he was so off the money that it wasn't even funny.

"Yes, game."

As soon as Vegeta entered the underground area, he started to focus on sensing ki like no other. He could feel it was a great amount of them, though the numbers weren't as high as he expected. One by one, he counted every distinguishable source of ki and also used his eyes to estimate just how many women had been rounded up. Though he expected much more, he still had to weed out the weak from the strong.

"Old man, you will lead us to the training room. Every single one of you except his daughter will be following me." Vegeta then raised his voice. "AND IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE IN YOUR ROOMS STILL, YOU DIE!"

Like roaches scattering when the lights came on, well over two hundred women came out through their rooms hastily, some on their knees and others barely able to stand. Vegeta chuckled.

"Now." Vegeta grabbed Dr. Briefs by his collar and shoved him forward. "Lead. The rest of you, follow."

All the females started to shuffle their feet forward, almost like drones; they didn't feel that they had control of the situation.

While Tights was following in the crowd, she looked behind her to see her little sister snot-nosed with tears, bubbles and all. Even as a little kid, she didn't see Bulma cry all that much. She loved her sister and she wanted to feel for her.

But she couldn't.

If in her shoes, Tights wouldn't dare allow her sister to enter such a horrible world, even if the intention was to prolong her life.

This was already worse than death and they hadn't got started yet.

Tarble couldn't say a word. The silent crying and whimpering was all too much reminding him of the sounds that came from the natives of the planet he grew up on. He understood the fear that they were feeling, but it was still a much different circumstance. The way he saw it, Freeza managed to end their pain by killing them. And as despicable as Freeza is, he couldn't believe the fact that his own brother would stoop even lower than the tyrant. There was no way Vegeta was always like this - not this black-hearted.

"Stop your whining!" Vegeta fussed.

One turn later, Vegeta came to a stop alongside Dr. Briefs. Ahead of them were double doors with little bits of glass that showed parts of what was behind. Vegeta was getting all too excited for an event that he wouldn't even be participating in. Dr. Briefs opened the door, allowing everyone inside.

As people passed him up, he got dampened, sad eyes turning into scowls and sneers. Some went as far as to spit on him, but he didn't react. He knew he deserved it so he just took it.

Vegeta was in the middle of the training room, which was more like an arena than anything. Looking up, the bright lights was a great shine on him. The training room was the length of two football fields combined, which was more than enough room for what he needed to get done.

"Well…" Vegeta turned around, Nappa and Tarble on side of him. "I'll be frank with you lot; only half of you will come out of this room alive."


End file.
